That bout seemed even further away than ever following Joshua's brutal defeat to Daniel Dubois last month, possibly crushing any hopes of a meeting with Fury after his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk later this year.
Yet, Matchroom director Frank Smith believes that there's still big interest in seeing AJ and Fury lock horns, and told SportsBoom it still needs to happen.
“Win, lose or draw, everyone wants to see AJ versus Fury," he said.
"That’s regardless of previous results involving either of them as well. It needs to happen. People want to see it happen and I’m sure it will. It’s too big not to happen. Both of them, I’m sure, want to be involved in the biggest fights that are out there.”
- Read next: Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol: Darren Barker, Joseph Parker and Ariel Helwani pick their favourites for light heavyweight showdown
- Read next: The Big Names with No Titles - Chris Eubank Jr., Andre Dirrell and others to never be world champion
“Does AJ want to win money or win the titles back? What’s his best route through? He’s rebuilt himself before after losses. He went straight into a rematch with Andy Ruiz, which was a risk, and put in a much improved performance to win.
"He knew he could improve on the first performance. He did the same with Usyk and, even though he lost again, it was a much improved performance the second time around. It was a much, much closer fight.”
Watch Beterbiev vs. Bivol on DAZN
Watch Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, plus the whole fight card on DAZN Pay-Per-View, which also includes Fabio Wardley, Frazer Clarke, Chris Eubank Jr, Jai Opetaia, Ben Whittaker and Skye Nicolson all fighting.
The PPV is priced at £19.99 for UK viewers. To purchase and find the prices in your region click here.
Purchasing the PPV includes a seven-day free trial of all of DAZN's programming across a range of sports.
DAZN is home of boxing, showing over 150 fights a year, broadcasting a variety of boxing programming - press conferences, weigh-ins, exclusive interviews, documentaries and much more - week in, week out, 52 weeks a year from all around the world, in all divisions, at all levels.
More Boxing
- Boxing full schedule and calendar
- DAZN's upcoming Boxing shows
- Boxing rankings
- Boxing champions list in every division
- Fighter profiles and highlights
- How do weight classes work?
- What are the major boxing titles?
- How is boxing scored?