Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua's long-anticipated matchup could finally take place in 2025, with Matchroom CEO Frank Smith feeling it will never happen if not this year.
A super-bout between the two British heavyweights, among the upper tier of the division for a decade, has been mooted several times in the past without ever taking place.
Breakdowns over the purse split scuppered the most recent attempt to set up a clash, but with both men coming off major losses in their career, the stage could be finally set.
Now Smith has weighed in, and feels that the time is ripe for the encounter to take place, suggesting that any failure to stage it this year could take it off the table forever.
"I think either way, the Joshua-Fury fight would be huge, win, lose or draw," he told The Stomping Ground. "Whatever happens is huge for the sport. AJ wants the biggest fights.
"It was hard not to have Usyk as favourite off the back of the first fight, and I think he was a lot more convincing this time around, but the Fury fight is huge regardless of the result.
"How many times have we said it has to happen this year? In boxing, we're guilty of that. But I do believe this is the year we see that fight, if ever at all.
"If it doesn't happen this year, it's not going to happen. But I feel we will see it. It's a huge fight, still up there as the biggest fight in the sport of boxing, regardless of results.
"It's been called for over years and years. Now is the time to see that fight. It breaks all records in terms of UK boxing."
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