By Barry Holbrook: Tyson Fury’s dad John doubts the mega-fight with Anthony Joshua will be happening this year due to the pandemic. The fact that the contracts have been signed by IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) and WBC champ Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) made mean nothing.
They still need an investor to come through with the site fee money, and the date has to be decided on. According to John Fury, he doesn’t see that happening, and he wants to get Tyson back in action to sharpen him up.
‘The Gypsy King’ Fury has been sitting inactive since his seventh-round knockout win over Deontay Wilder in February 2020, which was 13 months ago.
John doesn’t want Fury to lose any more time than he already has by sitting on the shelf, waiting for the Joshua fight to get made. If it doesn’t happen this year, Fury will have missed two years of activity, which could hurt his career permanently.
John feels it’s not good timing for the undisputed heavyweight championship to be taking place.
“We need to get him (Tyson) out, whether these cowboys get the job sorted, which I don’t think they’re going to do,” said John Fury to BT Sport on the negotiations for the Joshua-Fury mega-fight.
“What have they signed? They’ve signed nothing in my eyes. They’ve got no date, no venue, no nothing,” said John.
Fury should take a tune-up while the venue and date get sorted out for the Joshua fight. If Fury can take a stay-busy match in June or July, he’ll be ready to go for November or December to Joshua.
Overall, it might be better to postpone the two Joshua vs. Fury fights until next year in 2022. The pandemic will likely be pretty much over by that point, and the UK and U.S economies will have rebounded by that point.
In the meantime, Joshua can defend his WBO title against mandatory Oleksandr Usyk, and Fury can Deontay Wilder in their contractually bound trilogy match. There’s a lot of money still on the table for Fury to make by resisting the Wilder fight.
It would be better for Fury to take that fight now while Wilder has only been out of the ring for a year like himself than it would be if he faces him in 2022.
Wilder shows no signs of wanting to fight anyone in 2021 not named Fury, and that’s not good for him. If Wilder is inactive for two solid years, the fight won’t make as much money if Fury fights him in 2022 rather than this year.
There are many good fights for Fury to take in 2021 to get him ready to face Joshua next year. Besides Wilder, Fury could take on former IBF/WBA/WBO champion Andy Ruiz Jr or Dillian Whyte, who won last weekend against Alexander Povetkin.
“It’s all about someone coming forward and saying, “Right, I’ll pay for the fight, I’ll stage the fight.” Where are these people?” said John Fury about foreign businessmen stepping up to offer a huge site fee to stage the Joshua vs. Fury fight abroad.
“I don’t think they can get it together. It’s too big for what’s happening and the climate the world is in at the moment.
“I just don’t think the timing is right for a fight of that magnitude with the state of the world,'” said John Fury.
It’s got to be frustrating for Fury and John to be sitting around waiting because it’s already been a year since Tyson last fought.
This waiting around for Fury has got to be frustrating, especially with him not knowing if the Joshua fight will take place this year. If you’re Fury, you’ve got to have a cut-off date in your mind where if the fight with AJ isn’t made, you’re walking away.
Really, Fury probably should wash his hands of the business and move on; try again next year. Maybe by 2022, the climate will have changed, making it more likely a fight between Fury and Joshua can take place.
“It’s a business for Tyson and we need to move on, get a living properly, sharpen his tools and keep him sharp in case that big night comes knocking,” said John Fury.