ANTHONY JOSHUA could fight Tyson Fury in April next year. Joshua, the 2012 Olympic super-heavyweight gold medallist, boxes London rival Dillian Whyte on December 12, while Fury challenges world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf on November 28.
“Win or lose on November 28, if he beats Klitschko, Joshua would fight him next, if he loses Joshua would fight him next anyway,” promoter Eddie Hearn told Boxing News.
Joshua’s British heavyweight title fight at the O2 will be pay-per-view on Sky Box Office. His next fight won’t necessarily remain on pay-per-view but his promoter explained, “It’s very difficult. You’ve earned X and then someone comes along and says I’m going to pay you four times less for your next one. But it depends on his development, if he’s ready to move forward. You can’t fight Mariusz Wach [on Sky Box Office]. You couldn’t fight him on pay per view but it’s a good fight for him.”
Joshua’s training team will decide whether he’s ready for major fights, if he does get past Whyte. Hearn explained, “I might turn round and say, I don’t know, I want you to fight Bryant Jennings, a good fight, a world level heavyweight fighter and they turn round and say, we’re not quite ready for that. Okay well, you can have one in February or March against [someone else] but obviously the money’s going to be a lot less. So it’s up to you. They might demolish Dillian Whyte and go, ‘We’ll fight Fury.’ Fury has a great fight with Klitschko, we do Joshua-Fury in April and of course that’s pay-per-view and it does 700 or 800,000 buys.
“It’s not a case of once you’re on [pay-per-view] you never go back but it’s difficult to go back. It is difficult to go back, because the difference in money is vast. It’s not 80%-100% it’s 20%-100%.”
