Fury v Joshua closer but hurdles still to clear

ByKal Sajad

BBC Sport boxing journalist

The long-awaited heavyweight fight between Britons Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua has moved a step closer after they won their respective warm-up fights - but not without plenty of drama.

Fury was first into the ring on Friday, stopping 46-year-old Mariusz Wach in seven rounds in Pattaya, Thailand.

Joshua's night in Saudi Arabia was a different story.

Facing little-known Albanian Kristian Prenga, Joshua was expected to ease through his comeback. Instead, he was dropped after just 20 seconds and again in the opening round before producing a stunning turnaround to stop Prenga in the second.

With both men winning and contracts already agreed, the biggest fight in British boxing remains on course. Reports have suggested purses of around $100million (£75m) each, so there is every incentive to get the deal over the line.

But there are still a few hurdles to clear.

Many expected Fury to fly straight from Thailand to Saudi Arabia for a face-off inside the ring after a Joshua win.

Remarkably, the only time they have ever shared a ring was during a sparring session at Finchley Amateur Boxing Club in 2010.

After beating Wach, Fury insisted he would not travel to Jeddah and, despite rumours throughout Saturday, he kept his word. Reporters even briefly thought he had arrived when a Fury lookalike stepped out of a car outside the arena.

But Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn insisted a fight with Fury will happen next.

"It's done. We signed a legally binding contract about three months ago," Matchroom's Hearn said.

Netflix is expected to broadcast the fight globally to more than 325 million subscribers but the biggest unanswered question is when and where.

New York's Madison Square Garden in November is understood to be among the leading options as Saudi organisers look to maximise the event's appeal in America.

British fans, understandably, want the fight in the United Kingdom - specifically at Wembley Stadium.

Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh has previously suggested if the bout were staged in Britain, it would have to start in the early hours of the morning to cater for the lucrative American television audience.

It would not be unprecedented. Ricky Hatton's fight against Kostya Tszyu in Manchester in 2005 began at about 02:00 BST while Joe Calzaghe's victories over Jeff Lacy and Mikkel Kessler also started after midnight.

Cardiff's Principality Stadium would welcome the opportunity to host Fury-Joshua, but the fight would have to be held on either Saturday, 31 October or Saturday, 28 November. The three Saturdays in between all host Wales rugby internationals.

Wembley Stadium's curfew is 23:00, although London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Brent Council have indicated they would be open to discussions about extending it for this major sporting event.

However, sources close to the mayor told BBC Sport on Friday organisers had not been in touch.

Joshua and Fury have signed separate contracts with Alalshikh, who is financing the fight.

Hearn, however, insists their agreement is for the bout to take place in Britain.

"We insisted that this fight was in the UK," Hearn said. "I know that AJ will sometimes want to be a little bit of a peacekeeper but the reality is he said to me, 'I want the fight in the UK. This is a British fight'. I can't agree more.

"We would have conversations but the only way the fight doesn't take place in England is if Anthony Joshua and myself agree to it because we have a legally binding contract."

Joshua also made his preference clear after his win.

"I wouldn't expect it to be at Tottenham [Hotspur Stadium] or the [Cardiff] Principality Stadium, respectfully," he said. "It's just got that history when you think of Wembley."

Hearn says if Saudi organisers decide they want to stage the fight in America instead, Joshua's contract would need to be renegotiated.

From a purist's perspective, the fight comes years too late.

Fans wanted Fury and Joshua to meet when both were world champions and at the peak of their powers rather than after years of negotiations, failed talks and defeats.

Other super-fights have also arrived later than many hoped, including Floyd Mayweather's victory over Manny Pacquiao in 2015 and, closer to home, Amir Khan's defeat by Kell Brook in 2022.

Commercially, though, Fury v Joshua remains enormous.

Joshua's knockout of Jake Paul introduced him to a wider American audience beyond traditional boxing fans, while Fury has built a huge following through his appearances on WWE, trilogy with Deontay Wilder and his Netflix series.

Fury and Joshua are two of Britain's biggest sporting personalities. For casual fans around the world, that is reason enough to tune in and to sell out any stadium or arena.

Joshua's comeback against Prenga was one of the bravest performances of his career but it also highlighted familiar vulnerabilities. Dropped twice by a heavyweight competing at world level for the first time, he somehow recovered to produce a dramatic stoppage victory.

It also came under extraordinary circumstances.

Joshua was fighting for the first time since surviving the car crash in Nigeria that claimed the lives of his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif 'Latz' Ayodele. The emotional burden was obvious afterwards as he struggled to speak during his post-fight interview.

His recent results and performances do raise eyebrows. Since the end of 2023, Joshua has beaten Otto Wallin, former UFC champion Francis Ngannou, YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul and the unknown Prenga. The last time he faced a top-level operation, he suffered a damaging knockout defeat by Daniel Dubois.

Fury has not looked untouchable either. Before comfortably beating Wach, he outpointed Arslanbek Makhmudov in April but had previously lost back-to-back world title fights to Oleksandr Usyk. His split-decision win over Ngannou in 2023 also came after he was knocked down by the MMA star.

Perhaps the question is no longer who is the better heavyweight but who has declined the least.

Joshua still possesses knockout power but Fury's movement, ring IQ and adaptability make him the favourite.