Fury vs. Joshua

Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua Fight

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are yet again worlds apart when it comes to actually ever meeting inside a boxing ring.

Once again dreams of a superfight between the two British behemoths is on the back burner as Fury moved on to a trilogy fight with Dereck Chisora on December 3 and AJ looks for a different opponent a couple of weeks after that.

December 3 was of course the date Fury vs Joshua was supposed to be finally happening. AJ had agreed to a 60-40 revenue split in favour of ‘The Gypsy King’, all broadcasters were on board and we appeared to be on the road to a deal. But no dice.

Fury and Joshua remember had appeared all set to clash for the first time on Saturday August 14, 2021, with an immediate rematch in November or December. Promoter Eddie Hearn had announced on March 15 that contracts had been signed for a two-fight deal.

But on May 17, just 24 hours after Fury had gleefully confirmed the date and venue, disaster struck. An arbitration ruling from the United States said Fury must resurrect his failed trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder. Or find a suitable resolution or extension.

Fury duly knocked out Wilder in their third meeting, but  Joshua lost his IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles to Ukrainian maestro Oleksandr Usyk by unanimous decision at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Eleven months later he would fail to regain them in a rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Fury and Usyk currently hold all the major heavyweight titles – Fury is the WBC and lineal king while Usyk is the IBF, WBA, WBO and Ring magazine champion.

Tyson Fury, now at the age of 34, is the outspoken larger-than-life ‘Gypsy King’ from northern England who stunned Wladimir Klitschko to become world champion in 2015 before depression and massive weight gain almost wrecked his career. His road to redemption has been an incredible story – crowned by a devastating destruction of the hitherto unbeaten ‘Bronze Bomber’ Deontay Wilder as Fury won back the world heavyweight title in February 2020.

The Morecambe behemoth (now 32-0-1 as a pro) has come a long way since his premature birth weighing just one pound. His father John Fury named him after former heavyweight king Mike Tyson. Nowadays a Fury fight is special stuff – and not just for fight night itself. The man brings pure theatre to any press conference he takes over.

Joshua (24-3), at the age of 32, meanwhile is the powerful superstar from Watford who ruled at amateur level to claim super-heavyweight gold at the 2012 Olympics in his home city. Then he blasted his way through the professional ranks.

Just like Fury, AJ enjoyed a career-defining night against Wladimir Klitschko. He defeated the valiant Ukrainian great in an epic Wembley showdown in April 2017. Joshua suffered a shock first pro defeat by late stand-in Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden in New York in June 2019, but quickly avenged that seventh-round TKO loss by regaining his belts with a comprehensive points victory in Saudi Arabia in December 2019. More recently he knocked out Kubrat Pulev in nine rounds in December 2020 to retain his titles. Then came those devastating losses to Usyk.