Tyson Fury’s huge unification fight with Anthony Joshua won’t happen until 2022. That’s the verdict from Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, who had grand plans to stage the event this year.
A huge unification clash between the heavyweight division's titleholders was discussed for a lengthy period, but those plans were dramatically crushed when an independent arbiter ruled that Fury must defend his WBC belt against Deontay Wilder.
That fight was arranged for July 24th in Las Vegas but a Covid-19 outbreak in Fury’s camp has put the bout back a few months with October now the rumoured date. This development has prompted Hearn to declare that a showdown between Fury and Joshua will not happen this year.
"I think that was pretty much the case anyway. But fighting September 25(the proposed date for Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk), it's very difficult to do a fight in December. And a lot of our conversations now about the undisputed fight are end of January, February," Hearn told IFL TV.
"So, it probably helps [that Fury-Wilder was postponed]. Fury might've wanted to do another fight in November or December. And then the whole thing is, like, never-ending.
"I don't even know if [Fury-Wilder will] happen in October, to be honest with you. Who knows? But at least if this fight does happen and AJ beats Usyk successfully, then we've bought fought around the same time and then we can try and make the undisputed fight."