In one of boxing’s longest-running sagas, the highly-anticipated heavyweight showdown between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury appears to be a step closer with Fury’s American promoter Bob Arum adamant that “there are no more issues.”
The huge unification clash, the biggest fight that can currently be made in boxing, has been discussed at length and with the hard-hitting pair both seemingly in their prime after registering impressive victories in 2020, it appears that the time is now right to make the fight.
Speaking to IFL TV, Arum said: “I’ve been working on it. All the points have been agreed to. Now we are scrambling around to get the thing signed and everything. But I can say clearly, based on my view on everything, that there are no more issues.
Following Arum’s admission, the subject took up a decent portion on the most recent Ak and Barak Show (on DAZN and Sirius XM Fight Nation). With the fight between two of boxing’s biggest names providing a lengthy negotiations period, Barak is not impressed with Arum’s latest update.
“This is what I call ‘Pandemic Behaviour,’ declared the opinionated co-host. “Pandemic behaviour is acceptable during the height of the pandemic when nothing else is going on every little bit of information becomes news. That’s acceptable.
“We don’t need to know every single little bit of details that goes on. When the date is official, tell us. When tickets are on sale, when you have a date that tickets are going on sale, please tell us. Don’t tell us every single bit. We’re not that starving. When it’s official, tell us about it.”
Josh Friedman, the producer of the Ak and Barak Show, believes the latest development is more than newsworthy. “This week and last week, the conversations between Arum and [Eddie] Hearn haven’t exactly been acrimonious since what happened with Teofimo Lopez so I’ve been worried that the whole fight would fall through.
“The fact that we have a positive development after all of the back and forth with Arum and Hearn, to me, is major news, because I thought that this fight could potentially fall by the wayside.”
The Ak and Barak Show, exclusive to DAZN and Sirius XM Fight Nation, tackles all of boxing’s biggest subjects. Watch here.