Despite a year of apparent intent and the recent news that both men have signed a contract to fight each other twice, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury still do not have a set date and venue for their proposed superfight.
With the coronavirus pandemic still causing major issues for the prospect of bringing large ticket-buying crowds into venues to watch live sports, we are about to enter April still uncertain over when and where the bout will finally happen.
If the two sides are able to get it sorted soon, it appears that the four major sanctioning bodies — all of whom recognise either Joshua or Fury as their reigning champion at the moment — will recognise the fight as one to determine the first undisputed heavyweight king since Lennox Lewis achieved the feat around the turn of the millennium.
However whether we see a full unification in 2021 or not, all four of the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF will be extremely conscious of the fact that AJ and Fury will only have eyes for each other for as long as the next 12 months. This means no title fights for the foursome's respective mandatory challengers, and as a result they wiill be looking elsewhere.
So, based on the assumption that as many as all four could be set to break away from the duo the day after they unify (or the day after their dragged-out venue talks fall through), here's a guide to which fighters could be world heavyweight champion this year.
Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury: Who holds the belts?
As of press time, Joshua is the unified WBA (Super), WBO and IBF champion. Fury, meanwhile, holds the WBC title as well as being recognised by The Ring magazine as the lineal champion (using a strict 'the fighter that beat the fighter' system). If they fought tomorrow, the winner would take the lot.
To see that happen, we have to hope none of them grow impatient — and some of them have already stated their patience is wearing thin.
We'll begin with the most likely to break away, unification or no unification.
WBO (likely fight: Joe Joyce vs. Oleksandr Usyk)
Many are actually surprised the WBO haven't stripped Joshua already. They recognise Oleksandr Usyk, the unbeaten professional and former undisputed cruiserweight champ, as their mandatory challenger and have repeatedly voiced their displeasure at how long it has been since their version of the title was made a priority by AJ.
It's conceivable that the only thing keeping them on board with Joshua at the moment is the prospect of a cut from the huge money Joshua vs. Fury will pull as a unification, if they lock in a lucrative site fee. Then, when the two begin to set up their rematch, the WBO are highly likely to become the first to dispute the undisputed champ and elevate the interim WBO champion to full titleholder.
At present, there is no such interim belt. But Usyk is expected to soon agree to face Britain's unbeaten Joe Joyce, who impressively stopped Daniel Dubois to move near the top of the WBO charts, for interim champion status. The winner of Dereck Chisora vs. Joseph Parker on May 1 will hope to challenge the winner of that, by which point many expect to be the full title rather than just an interim one.
WBC (likely fight: Deontay Wilder vs. Dillian Whyte)
Wilder lost this title belt to Fury in Feb. 2020 after a long reign. He hasn't fought since, but assuming he does dust himself off in an attempt to bounce back from his first ever pro defeat, the WBC still regard him as the number one contender. Then there's Whyte, who regained the interim WBC belt from Alexander Povetkin in Gibraltar and could be named the next mandatory challenger as a result.
With Whyte already calling out Wilder, and the American showing far more interest in fighting "The Body Snatcher" now than he did before he was conquered by Fury, this one seems a natural showdown to build towards. The two could fight lesser-ranked opposition in separate fights this summer while AJ and Fury unify, before meeting one another for the WBC belt that would be freed up between AJ-Fury 1
IBF (likely fight: Filip Hrgovic vs. Michael Hunter)
This particular belt is an interesting one, especially if Fury defeats Joshua.
Simply put, Tyson Fury despises the IBF, and has not attempted to hide it. It stems from his brief spell as IBF champion in November 2015 after outpointing Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf to win all of the belts currently in the possession of Joshua. Klitschko had a rematch clause, and invoked it immediately.
The team representing IBF mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov, meanwhile, pushed hard for purse bids towards his shot, knowing it would cause the IBF to serve their new champ an ultimatium: either give Glazkov his due opportunity next, or prioritise the Wlad rematch and be stripped. With the Klitschko fight legally binding as well as far more lucrative, the choice was obvious and Fury's IBF reign lasted only 10 days.
Of course, Glazkov and his crew knew what they were doing. They wanted to become world champion without having to face a Fury- or Klitschko-level fighter. Ironically, Glazkov lost the bout for the vacated title to Charles Martin after a freak knee injury that ultimately forced an early retirement. However the damage was done for Fury, who was already finding the life of being world champion massively disappointing due to the tepid reception his achievements received in the media due to his numerous PR disasters.
Nonetheless, Fury feels the IBF failed to support their new champion and star in favour of Glazkov's shameless shortcut. "The Gipsy King" has already vowed that, if he beats Joshua and unifies, he will throw the IBF title away. If Joshua wins, perhaps they will stick with him, but since his next fight will likely be Fury once again, unbeaten Filip Hrgovic and popular contender Michael Hunter look to be on collision course this year, while Martin himself remains highly ranked by the body.
WBA (possible fight: Trevor Bryan vs. Andy Ruiz Jr.)
While the promoters putting Joshua-Fury together have hinted that they would stage the second fight (and even the first, if need be) without any world titles involved, the WBA appear the most likely to stay the course, mostly because of their notoriously-complex title picture.
The body often recognise as many as three different boxers as champion at any one time in various divisions, using such distinctions as "WBA Super" and "WBA Regular" champion. As a result, Joshua is currently the 'super' champion while the 'regular' (and in most fans eyes, non-canon compared to AJ) titleholder is unbeaten American Trevor Bryan.
Boasting a high knockout ratio but lacking big names on his resume, the 31-year-old won the vacant 'regular' belt against Bermane Stiverne in January, with previous titleholder Mahmoud Charr stripped after four years of inactivity. Bryan vs. Charr is still a fight the WBA likes, but if it continues to prove evasive the name we could expect to step up and truly test Bryan is one-time 'super' champion, Andy Ruiz Jr.
Ruiz of course stunned Joshua to claim all of his titles in 2019, only to lose them back six months later in the rematch. Ruiz returns for the first time since that disappointing performance on May 1 against Chris Arreola. Both are top-10 ranked by the WBA, and the winner could go on to become Bryan's first 'big' fight. And it's almost certain the body would then attempt to have it both ways, so to speak, by recognising the AJ-Fury winner as their 'super' and whomever comes out on top elsewhere as their 'regular'.