Tyson Fury has never been a man to shirk a challenge, and ‘The Gypsy King’ is taking a major risk by booking in a warmup fight for that November blockbuster vs Anthony Joshua.
After all the years of waiting, Fury and Joshua are finally set to engage in that tantalising all-British blockbuster in November, live on Netflix.
The bout is likely to take place at London’s Wembley Stadium in front of a crowd of around 100,000 and both men are expected to earn in the region of £100m each for their night’s work.
The bout is officially confirmed, and now only one thing can stop it happening, a catastrophe for either man in their warmup bout.
We already knew that AJ (29-4) had booked in what looks a very straightforward assignment vs unknown Albanian journeyman Kristian Prenga in Saudi Arabia on July 25. Nothing surprising there – Joshua has not fought since that knockout of YouTuber Jake Paul in Miami last December.
Fury doesn’t need the warmup smoke
But for Fury this is slightly different – he recently returned from a 16-month retirement to easily outpoint the giant Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov in London in April, and he looked good in doing so.
We’d argue that ‘The Gypsy King’ (now 35-2-1) is always in shape, and the warmup bought is not required, but take it he is. And so he will be out again in Dublin, Ireland on August 1.
As yet Fury’s opponent is unnamed, but we are not expecting it to be an elite heavyweight. Three months out from the big bag, that would be a risk too far and we expect final confirmation on exactly who it is this week.
Even getting between the ropes in August is dicing with disaster for the two-time world heavyweight champion – remember his first fight against Oleksandr Usyk was delayed in early 2024 after he sustained a cut eye in training.
Boxing history is littered with fights which never happened due to unfortunate events or circumstances. We can only hope that after all the years of waiting, Fury vs Joshua does not go the same way.
