Everyone in boxing is hoping to see heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury clash in a huge bout in 2021. While obstacles remain and talks will continue, it seems likely that something will be finalized and the two will get it on in the near future.
What is less certain, however, is whether the winner will become the latest to join a very exclusive club of boxers who reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Fury is the current WBC and The Ring (lineal) champion, while Joshua holds the WBA, WBO and IBF titles following his successful defense via ninth-round knockout of Kubrat Pulev on Dec. 12. On paper, if the two fought tomorrow, the winner would monopolize the division's gold.
However, as always, it isn't that simple.
The WBO are currently insisting that Joshua's next fight as their champion should be against their mandatory challenger, Oleksandr Usyk. Usyk is two fights into life as a heavyweight but previously unified the cruiserweight division, and outpointed Dereck Chisora in his first serious maximum-weight test on Oct. 31.
According to the governing body, they have already allowed Joshua to pick his last two opponents and they would only consider not stripping the belt in the event the Londoner opts to battle Fury next if Usyk personally okays it, which would require some negotiation and perhaps compensation.
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn has said since his charge's professional debut way back in 2013 that the goal was always to unify the division's major titles. That leaves the Matchroom Boxing head in a tough predicament as to what takes priority: achieving that particular feat, or sealing the monster payday that Joshua vs. Fury will undoubtedly bring in?
While in Florida for the final preparations of Gennadiy Golovkin's return to action against Kamil Szeremeta, airing live on DAZN, Hearn raised eyebrows with his thoughts on the topic.
“I obviously work close with Usyk. They are in a strong position as the mandatory challenger,” Hearn said. “At the same time, we have a fight on our hands — and sorry to the governing bodies — that eclipses all belts. We've just got to be a little bit careful.
“You may be on the verge of going, ‘You know what? Let’s just get rid of all the politics right now. Let’s just drop all the belts.’ Because if you give up one belt, you might as well lose them all.
“It gets to the stage where you got the biggest fight in all of boxing. You’re paying each governing body hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now you got another guy who probably wants seven figures to step aside. So you just have to be careful.
“The aim of this fight has always been to be for the undisputed championship, When Anthony Joshua came into my office years ago, that was always the dream. We will do whatever we can to make sure every belt in boxing is on the line for the Tyson Fury fight.”
To disregard all of the championship belts currently in play would be a bold move by Hearn, as well as Fury's promoters Frank Warren and Bob Arum, if they were to agree with their rival matchmaker's stance on the issue.
On the one hand, losing world championship status would definitely remove a little gleam from a huge fight and the backstory behind it. On the other, Joshua and Fury are clearly the division's top two fighters, belts or not. They are certainly in a position to call the bluff of the separate bodies who are the reason for such championship confusion in the sport in the first place.
Furthermore, if all of the alphabet titles were indeed vacated while Fury vs. Joshua takes place, nobody who would theoretically win the titles in their stead — from Usyk to Joe Joyce, Deontay Wilder to Dillian Whyte, Alexander Povetkin to Luis Ortiz and anyone else — would be truly viewed as worthy champions unless they went on to challenge, and defeat, either British behemoth.
As things stand, only the WBO title is at serious, tangible risk of being removed from the equation. But if those involved do decide to fork out fees to every governing body plus Usyk for stepping aside, it would likely increase the chances of the bout being taken away from its logical location of the U.K. and onto a venue with a sizeable site fee, such as Saudi Arabia.