ANTHONY JOSHUA could fight Tyson Fury next. In fact anything could happen. Joshua, the unified IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion, has April 13 2019 booked to fight at Wembley Stadium. His options are wide open when it comes to an opponent.
Taking on British rival Fury would be a huge event. A unification with WBC heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder however is the primary target, even though those are not the only options for Joshua.
“There have been conversations [with Wilder’s representatives]. I’m not going to say too much because it didn’t go down too well last time. I don’t know what anyone’s going to do. I don’t know if Wilder will rematch Fury, I don’t know if AJ will fight Wilder, if AJ will fight Fury. Or AJ will fight the winner of [Dillian Whyte-Dereck Chisora] or if AJ will fight [Oleksandr] Usyk or [Jarrell] Miller here [in New York] but the ultimate focus is Wilder. That is what we want. They said AJ’s ducking the fight and now they’ve said AJ’s begging for the fight, but you can’t be doing both. But literally anything could happen. We could fight Fury. It would [be massive]. But worldwide the bigger fight is Wilder and he [Joshua] wants the belts, he wants to be undisputed and you’re not going to get many opportunities to be undisputed so that’s really what he’s focusing on,” promoter Eddie Hearn said.
There is a two-fight deal with Joshua on the table for Wilder but so far the American has indicated a greater desire to rematch Fury, after the two fought to a thrilling draw earlier this month.
“Who would you want to fight? Not being funny. I know Fury’s tricky but you’re not going to get hurt. And he’ll fancy he can knock him out this time. So if I was Wilder I would probably fight Fury and think it’s a less taxing fight,” Hearn said. “Someone is getting absolutely rendered unconscious in Wilder against Joshua. That isn’t going 12 rounds.
“Our deal is a two fight deal. So if he fought Joshua he’d know that he had two fights in the bank to become undisputed. He gets effectively two bites at the cherry. If he loses to Fury, he’ll probably have a rematch clause but when are you ever going to fight for the undisputed championship?”
