It was twice oh so close, and for a third time Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua appears to be on the heavyweight boxing roadmap.
We have had false starts before on the road to the fight ALL British fight fans crave, and now the path to a blockbusting domestic showdown is clear.
We came very close to the pair meeting in August 2021, before Deontay Wilder won an arbitration ruling to scupper that plan and force a trilogy fight vs Fury. Then in late 2022 a deal was in the works but they could not get it across the line.
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Now things are different – thanks to enormous investment in the sport by Saudi Arabia, its General Entertainment Authority and His Excellency Turki Alalshikh.
The Saudis have ploughed countless millions into their lavish ‘Riyadh Season’, and a Fury vs Joshua megafight appears to be very much in their sights.
Fury vs Joshua date and fight time
All the right noises are coming from all the right places, and it appears Fury vs Joshua could be a go for the first quarter of 2025 – likely March.
Before that Fury will bid to retain the world heavyweight title (in fact the WBC, WBA, WBO, Ring magazine and lineal titles) when he rematches Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night (December 21, 2024).
Assuming both men win (and potentially even if they don’t), Fury vs Joshua could be next off the rank.
Fury vs Joshua TV channel and live stream
AJ is aligned to DAZN in the UK while Fury is with TNT Sports. But if recent bouts are anything to go by, they won’t just be the only two TV options for Fury vs Joshua.
Recent Riyadh Season shows have been distributed far and wide at the behest of Saudi General Entertainment Authority Chairman Turki Alalshikh.
Therefore it’s likely DAZN, Sky Sports Box Office and TNT Sports Box Office will all have rights in the UK. Expect ESPN (Fury) and DAZN (AJ) to share rights in the United States.
Fury vs Joshua venue
Riyadh would be very much favourite to stage this bout – but it would not be a foregone conclusion. Riyadh Season has sent Joshua vs Dubois to Wembley, and having Fury vs Joshua in London would be a major PR win for Turki Alalshikh and his team.
Latest odds
A few months ago this was not even close – before he faced Ngannou last October, Fury was a 1/4 favourite to overcome Joshua. With AJ the 3/1 underdog.
Since then, that underwhelming Fury showing vs Ngannou plus the loss to Usyk – together with two massively impressive AJ wins (over Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou) – means the entire pendulum has swung towards the Watford man.
Fury remains favourite, but only by a whisker at 8/11. Joshua is 11/10 with the Draw a 16/1 shot.
Fury vs Joshua tickets
Joshua is a huge box office draw – all 96,000 tickets for his fight with Usyk sold out in a matter of hours.
Fury meanwhile sold out 94,000 tickets for his Wembley clash with Dillian Whyte – 85,000 in one day alone.
A Fury vs Joshua fight would do huge business and tickets will sell out in minutes, or maybe seconds…
Fury vs Joshua weights
Fury weighed in at 262lbs (18st 10lbs) for his last fight – that first career loss to Oleksandr Usyk in their unification showdown in May.
Joshua meanwhile tipped the scales at 252.5lbs (18st) for his shock loss to Daniel Dubois.
The weighin for any Fury vs Joshua fight in the future would take place the day before the bout.
Fury vs Joshua purses
Fury and Joshua were due to take home the biggest purses of their careers so far from that planned August 2021 meeting in Saudi Arabia. Not so fast…
Their two-fight deal had allowed for a 50-50 revenue split for the first fight, with the winner taking a 60-40 upside for the rematch.
The talk is – and this comes from Eddie Hearn and dad Barry – both men would take home a minimum of £100million each for their first meeting alone.
Current world heavyweight champions
It is all change when it comes to the current world heavyweight champions today.
Oleksandr Usyk now holds the WBC, WBA and WBO belts (plus the Ring magazine and lineal monikers) after his epic win over Fury in their first meeting in May 2024.
Daniel Dubois meanwhile holds the IBF strap after being promoted to champion earlier this year. Usyk vacated the belt after beating Fury, and Dubois was handed it after blasting out Filip Hrgovic for the interim title.
Fury vs Joshua promoters
Even outside the ring there is an all-star cast for Fury vs Joshua.
Fury is co-promoted by two Hall of Famers. The Top Rank supremo Bob Arum in the United States. And Queensberry Promotions head Frank Warren in the UK.
Joshua meawhile is promoted by Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn. Hearn is a bigger media star than most fighters in the UK, in particular via his social media feeds. The parody ‘No Context Hearn’ Twitter account, which clips some of his best one-liners as short videos, has more than 350,000 followers. Like Hearn himself, it has become a cult thing.
Tyson Fury record and profile
Tyson Luke Fury, now 36 years old. was born in Wythenshawe in Manchester on August 12, 1988. Then a premature baby and weighing just one pound at birth, he is now a huge physical specimen. He is 6ft 9ins tall with a reach of 85ins. He lives in the seaside town of Morecambe in Lancashire.
Fury has a record of 34-1-1 with 24 wins inside distance. His only defeat was that loss to Usyk last time out, while his draw came in his first meeting with Deontay Wilder in Los Angeles in December 2018.
Tyson (named after Mike Tyson) had his pro debut in December 2008. He disposed of Bela Gyongyosi with ease, and the rest is history.
There are two distinct chapters to Fury’s glittering career. The first from debut to November 2015, when he shocked Wladimir Klitschko to become world heavyweight champion.
Then came that three-year hiatus when Fury’s mental health issues threatened not only his boxing career, but his life. He also ballooned in weight to 400lbs.
Part two – the comeback – began in the summer of 2018 when the new Fury easily beat Sefer Seferi in Manchester. Just six months later he was back at world-title level.
Fury boxed brilliantly against Deontay Wilder in Los Angeles in 2018. Despite being knocked down twice, many experts felt he deserved the decision. Instead it was a controversial draw.
After wins over Otto Wallin and Tom Schwarz in 2019, Fury would rematch Wilder in Las Vegas in February 2020. This time he would leave nothing to chance.
Trained by Javan ‘SugarHill’ Steward and Andy Lee for the first time, he dominated from the first bell. The result was a one-sided beatdown which ended in Round 7 when Wilder’s towel came in.
Fury vs Wilder 3 was another stellar showing from ‘The Gypsy King’, who recovered from two fourth-round knockdowns to roar back and dominate. He would eventually knock out Deontay in Round 11 of a thrilling bout.
Next up was the domestic engagement with Dillian Whyte, and it was a triumphant homecoming for Fury in front of a baying crowd of 94.000 at Wembley Stadium. He dominated from the first bell and closed the show late in Round 6 with a perfect uppercut which landed Whyte on his back.
Fury ended 2022 with a convincing win over Dereck Chisora in their trilogy fight – again in London. Then came that surprising struggle against Ngannou in October 2023. And then of course that incredible unification blockbuster that he lost to Usyk by the closest of margins.
Anthony Joshua record and profile
Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua was born in Watford on October 15, 1989. He is now 32 years old. Joshua stands 6ft 6ins tall with a reach of 82ins. He has a professional record of 28-4 with 25 wins inside distance.
Joshua was destined for professional stardom right from the start, having won Olympic gold in the amateurs at the London Olympics of 2012.
He was utterly dominant in his entry into the paid ranks, demolishing all-comers (including big domestic rival Dillian Whyte) en route to a 15-0 start and his first shot at a world title.
That came against American Charles Martin in April 2016, and AJ made the most of the opportunity. He blasted out Martin inside two rounds to become IBF world heavyweight champion.
Six more victories followed as AJ added the WBA and WBO belts to his collection. His victims included the likes of Joseph Parker, Alexander Povetkin and Carlos Takam.
The signature success though came against Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in April 2017. After appearing on the brink of defeat, AJ recovered to win a classic via an 11th-round stoppage.
Joshua’s career suffered its first major blip in June 2019, on his American debut at Madison Square Garden. He was beaten inside seven rounds by late stand-in Andy Ruiz Jr.
AJ though took his defeat graciously and immediately exercised the rematch clause. Six months later, lighter and faster, he adapted his gameplan to box beautifully en route to a points victory in the Saudi Arabia rematch.
After a year-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Joshua finally returned to the ring against Kubrat Pulev on Saturday December 12, 2020.
And the Watford man produced an impressive display to knock out the durable Bulgarian in nine rounds. Pulev took a standing count and was down in the third and then twice in the ninth. The final exclamation point came via a beautiful Joshua right hand which closed the show in some style.
Joshua lost his belts for a second time when he was outpointed by the brilliant Ukrainian Usyk in a fascinating tactical battle at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 25, 2021. Despite an improved showing in the rematch in Saudi Arabia in August 2022, Joshua again fell short as he dropped a split decision to the Ukrainian great.
Joshua’s very career at the highest level now appeared in some doubt, but he would roar back to prominence and title contention in a terrific 2023.
First he outpointed American Jermaine Franklin, before knocking out Robert Helenius. Then he was even more impressive in a five-round demolition of Wallin in December.
If that Wallin was impressive, it was nothing compared to the brutal two-round devastation of former UFC heavyweight king Ngannou in March 2024.
Joshua was now apparently back at the peak of his powers, but again he was headed towards another enormous bump in the road in the shape of Daniel Dubois.
Young Londoner Dubois came into their Wembley showdown in September 2024 as the IBF heavyweight champion, but also as a clear underdog. But he would tear up the script in incredible fashion.
‘Dynamite’ had AJ on the deck and almost out of there in Round 1, and he continued to smash up the two-time heavyweight champion en route to an incredible knockout success.
Now AJ still has Fury in his sights, but the fight may not have quite the lustre as the potential undisputed showdown we all dreamed off.
