Speaking after last night’s brilliant win by Canelo Alvarez, who dominated the much bigger Callum Smith to become a legit four-weight world champion, Eddie Hearn turned his attention to the massive heavyweight monster fight we all want to see. And from what boxing scribe Mike Coppinger tweeted, we all have a reason to get excited. According to Coppinger’s tweet, Hearn says the Tyson Fury/Anthony Joshua fight is “verbally agreed,” that only “minor issues” now need to be dealt with.
Hearn says the fight will go ahead in May/June. The leading contender as far as hosting the fight is the Middle East, although the U.K is “still in play.” It seems unlikely the fight will take place in the UK, though – not when we consider the ongoing, even stricter measures that are in place due to the battle with the coronavirus (London now in Tier 4).
But wherever this fight takes place, we fans will sure take it. This is great news, and hopefully, Hearn is not guilty of jumping the gun.
“Eddie Hearn says Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua is verbally agreed to and contracts are being drafted for the heavyweight championship fight in May/June. Hearn says only “minor issues to resolve,” such as who walks last, the site, etc. This fight is going to happen next #FuryJoshua,” Coppinger’s tweet reads in full.
Recently, Oleksandr Usyk hinted that he may be willing to step aside, so perhaps the removal of the potential obstacle that was Joshua’s WBO mandatory is one of the reasons the super-fight fight is being spoken of so optimistically. With all the belts on the line, Fury and Joshua would be giving us what is without a doubt THE biggest fight in British boxing history, and one of the biggest fights ever, period. Both fighters want the fight, and now the little things need ironing out, or so it seems.
If the fight does happen in May/June, Fury will enter the ring having been out of action for 15 or 16 months, while AJ will have been out for just five or six months – advantage Joshua? Fury has kept himself sharp and in shape in the gym, but it is possible he could have some rust to deal with in the super-fight. But if Fury is happy to go into this, by far the most important fight of his and Joshua’s career, without a tune-up, then great. This one will easily be THE boxing event of 2021. Let’s hope it really does happen as smoothly as appears to be the case.
