Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua may be closer than it ever has been, because Turki Alalshikh clearly wants it to happen.
Twice in the last four years these two British heavyweight greats have come very close to actually meeting in a ring, and maybe it really will be a case of third time lucky.
Ever since Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority Chairman Alalshikh started to transform boxing with massive investment in the sport, Fury vs Joshua is a fight he has been eyeing with great excitement. And now he has a plan to actually make it a reality.
On May 18 Fury will lock horns with Oleksandr Usyk in a fight which should deliver the sport’s first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis back in 1999. The pair DO have a rematch clause, and Alalshikh has outlined what happens after May 18.
Per Mike Coppinger of ESPN, he wants to put the Fury vs Usyk rematch on immediately – on October 12 or 13, 2024 to kick off another incredible Riyadh Season.
Fury vs Joshua planned date
After that – regardless of the results in those two fights – he wants Fury vs Joshua to happen, at last, in MARCH 2025. And the story does not end there.
Should Fury and Usyk split their two fights, a rubber match between ‘The Gypsy King’ and the Ukrainian genius could happen later in 2025 – after Fury vs Joshua.
It almost feels right now that this all-British superfight is inevitable rather than possible, give the might of the Saudi Arabian money machine behind it. It is also still a huge draw right now.
Fury remains the WBC and lineal heavyweight champion, and two wins over Usyk would just cement that position. Joshua meanwhile is right back at the sport’s top table after reeling off four consecutive wins, each more impressive than the last.
AJ has blasted out Otto Wallin and Ngannou since making the decision to hire Ben Davison as his trainer, and he now looks returned to the devastating destroyer who claimed world title glory twice before those damaging losses to Usyk in 2021 and 2022.
So in short, we’ve been here before with dreams of this fight finally taking place. But this time it just feels different, and that’s a good thing.
