After years of waiting, it seems as though Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will finally collide during the final quarter of 2026. Now, reigning WBO heavyweight world champion Fabio Wardley has shared his thoughts on the long-awaited contest.
‘AJ’ has been linked to a clash with ‘The Gypsy King’ for almost a decade but the timelines have rarely aligned and even when they have, negotiations and boxing politics have proven too difficult to overcome.
However, with neither man now holding a world title and both seeking to prove that they are still among the heavyweight elite, it was announced that an agreement is finally in place for one of the biggest bouts in British boxing history.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Wardley expressed his delight that Britain’s two standout heavyweights since the retirement of Lennox Lewis will finally go toe-to-toe.
“I know that we all say, think and have the same sentiment that it is a long time coming or maybe even say that it’s a bit past it, in terms of where they are at in their careers.
“But, it doesn’t matter whether it turned up either now or in 10 years – we were always going to be excited for the one that we had been hoping for, for years and years.”
Wardley then went on to pinpoint the importance of Joshua’s fight against Kristian Prenga, whom he faces in July, believing that outing will tell us more about whether he or Fury can be considered as the favourite in their fight.
“I think that the warm-up will give us the answer, to be honest. I think that, like you saw with Tyson Fury’s comeback fight, he wasn’t the quickest to it in them first few rounds, it did take him three or four to find his feet again, find his rhythm, find his range and bits like that.
“Once he did settle into the fight, it became relatively comfortable, but for those first few rounds I think that everyone was a little edgy and actually thought he could get caught, he didn’t look the same.
“I think that this warm-up fight, as we are calling it for AJ, will answer that question. We will see how he looks in that because I don’t think that the loss to Daniel [Dubois] and then the fight with Jake Paul are really anything to give you a measuring stick.”
Joshua-Prenga will take place in Riyadh on Saturday, July 25, with the lesser-known Albanian seemingly the only hurdle in the way of the Londoner’s showdown with Fury.
