Promoter Eddie Hearn has responded to a report that his heavyweight charge, Anthony Joshua, has agreed a deal to face Tyson Fury after years of fans demanding the fight.
Joshua was last out against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, picking up a monumental pay-check with a sixth-round stoppage. Tragedy followed, however, when the Olympic Gold Medalist and two-time unified champion was involved in a car crash in Lagos, Nigeria, which caused the death of two of his close friends, Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele.
This put tentative plans to face Fury on hold as ‘AJ’ recovered both physically and mentally. With a return to camp imminent, those negotiations can resume – however one report has jumped the gun significantly.
This past weekend, talkSPORT’s Gareth A Davies said on air that the fight is ‘agreed’ and will be streamed live on Netflix, despite Joshua and Hearn having a partnership with DAZN.
Speaking to The Stomping Ground, Hearn – who has promoted ‘AJ’ since his pro debut and will do so until he retires after a career-long partnership was signed in 2021 – said there was no truth to the statement.
“Completely untrue. There is absolutely nothing signed with Anthony Joshua to fight Tyson Fury next. There is nothing agreed. There have been conversations – deep conversations prior to the accident – that he was going to fight Jake Paul, then fight in February or March in Saudi Arabia, then fight Tyson Fury. Then obviously the accident happened.
“Since then, there have been no conversations really about that fight, other than in the last few days conversations with Dr. Rakan [Alharthy], Sela, about starting to think about revisiting the plan.”
Fury returns against Arslanbek Makhmudov next month, and has said he is targeting all of ‘AJ’, the winner of Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois, and a trilogy with Oleksandr Usyk.
Updates will be provided on Joshua’s return to training camp in the coming weeks, with a comeback bout expected for late summer.
