The rolllercoaster that is the negotiations for Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua appears to be taking another 180 with Bob Arum now saying he would bet the superfight WILL NOT happen.
Eddie Hearn has been saying for weeks that the deal is just about done to finalise a date and site for the world heavyweight title unification match. Earlier this week he claimed the fight “is on the doorstep, ready to be delivered”. The two fighters of course put pen to paper on a two-fight deal back in March.
But with the clock ticking down to a planned late July/early August showdown in Saudi Arabia, things appear to be souring. Arum, who co-promotes Fury (30-0-1) along with Frank Warren, says he’s concerned and does not think the bout will now take place.
Saudi is a mirage – Arum
He told Ring magazine: “If I had to bet whether the Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua fight would happen or not, I would say no. As far as I can see this whole thing with Eddie and (a Fury vs AJ fight in Saudi Arabia) is just a mirage.”
Arum described Hearn as “a desperado” in all of this, claiming his soon-to-expire deal with Joshua (24-1) is at the heart of the matter.
He explained: “Eddie is desperate, he has one more fight with AJ, and he wants it to be the fight against Fury. But if a fight against Tyson is delayed, to the winter, then AJ has to fight Oleksandr Usyk, and that’s not that big a fight. Eddie is a desperado here.”
Fury vs Wilder 3 anyone?
Fury has now been out of the ring for some 14 months since that destruction of Deontay Wilder in their Las Vegas rematch. He had been due to meet ‘The Bronze Bomber’ in a trilogy fight, but that collapsed late last year.
Arbitration between the Fury and Wilder camps is still ongoing, but Arum – who says he has not heard from Hearn in two weeks – is even mooting the potential for that trilogy fight to be rekindled IF Fury vs AJ falls through.
“A switch to negotiation is possible,” he revealed.
