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Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury agreed to a unification fight following months of anticipation for the much-welcomed news. This is welcome news following months of rigorous negotiation. After months of arduous negotiations between competing promoters and rival champions, the contract for a two-fight deal between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua to unify the heavyweight titles has finally been signed.
Saudi Arabia is the controversial front-runner to host the £400 million showdowns, with organisers now racing to agree on a location and date within weeks.
The two-fight deal will unify the world heavyweight titles and crown an undisputed champion in what will rank alongside the great showdowns of modern sport.
Eddie Hearn suggested that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, China, London, and Las Vegas are among the potential host locations. However, the prospect of England holding the fight has been dampened by apparent concerns around the Government’s roadmap towards fully releasing lockdown.
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However, the controversial location of Saudi Arabia, which Amnesty International has accused of “sports washing” following human rights abuses, has been described by Hearn as a “definite possibility”. “Saudi just did Formula E and golf. They are not slowing down the development of the sport,” he said last week.
Eddie Hearn, the Managing Director of Matchroom Sport and Anthony Joshua’s Promoter said that: “We’d like to get a site deal confirmed in the next month,” He further said that: “The hard part is always getting everybody to put pen to paper. But this was a major effort from all parties to get this over the line. You had rival promoters, rival networks and rival fighters.”
The pen was put to paper by both parties on Saturday in a provision of services agreement with signees believed to include Fury and Joshua; Joshua’s promoter, Matchroom Boxing; Fury’s American promoter, Top Rank; Fury’s English promoter, Queensberry; and Fury’s management company, Dubai-based MTK.
With the terms of the deal now set, principals can solicit offers from prospective sites.
A Top Rank source said: “It’s pending, finding a site and a date that’s acceptable to both (fighters’ camps). We have 30 days from the signing, or the deal could go away.”
“I actually feel we’ve done the hard part,” Hearn said. “Speaking for myself, Anthony and his team at 258 management [258 MGT], I know how hard we’ve worked these last couple of months and I just feel that this fight is so big it’s not a difficult sell. We’ve already had approaches from eight or nine sites. The offers have come from multiple countries in the Middle East, from Asia, Eastern Europe and America.”
The real money, however, continues to be in the Middle East, where Hearn secured a site fee in excess of $40 million to promote Joshua’s 2019 rematch with Andy Ruiz in Saudi Arabia.
The need for a huge site fee becomes particularly acute with seating restrictions and businesses still reeling from COVID-19, as Middle Eastern countries are seeking less in attendance than favourable publicity.
“This is the biggest fight in boxing and one of the biggest sporting events in the world,” Hearn said. “It will be a major, major win for a country that wants to showcase itself.”
The contract calls for a 50-50 percentage split while the rematch would attract a 60-40 percentage, with the winner taking the higher share. The plan is for both fights to take place in 2021. The first would likely be in June or July and the rematch would ideally be in November or December.
The news of the deal came just days after Fury expressed frustration with the negotiations that began back in January and threatened to suspend training for the Joshua fight. He even decided that he was taking 12 pints per day.
“You never really know with Tyson,” Hearn said. “It could be mind games. He could be having a bad day. He could be a little pissed off. Or he could be having a joke.
“One of the fascinations about this fight will be the buildup because they’re two different characters, two different personalities. The mind games will be on another level for this fight. Tyson is very good at that. Anthony is excited by that. … He’s so pumped and focused that he hasn’t stopped training since the [Kubrat] Pulev fight [in December]. He’s like a caged lion. The buildup is going to be epic.”
Pugilists’ Antecedence
Joshua, 31, beat Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev in December to retain his IBF, WBO and WBA titles and set up the prospect of a clash with fellow Briton Fury. The winner will be the first undisputed world heavyweight champion since Britain’s Lennox Lewis in 2000 before a boxer had also to hold the WBO belt to be recognised as undisputed.
Fury was on Monday night made odds-on favourite, despite his struggles away from the ring. Joshua has 24 wins and one defeat from 25 professional bouts, while Fury is unbeaten in his 31 professional fights.
Fury won the WBA, IBF and WBO belts by beating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 but took nearly three years out of the sport battling depression and serving a backdated two-year UK Anti-Doping ban. The 32-year-old has not fought for more than a year since his knockout win against American Deontay Wilder.
Joshua will need to finish the fight by the middle rounds against his rival when they have their dust-up, most likely in the Arabian desert, in June or July, and it is unlikely that Fury will go toe-to-toe with his fellow British fighter, preferring perhaps to use his boxing skills to mesmerise Joshua.
The debate will rage for several months now in the build-up to the contest, but from my standpoint, Fury enters the contest as the marginal favourite, given the fact that he can adapt his game plan in what will be a fascinating battle of skill and nerve.
