Frank Warren believes that Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn must accept a new deal, otherwise the long-awaited Tyson Fury fight may never take place.
The two British heavyweights are set to finally collide in November, having completed their respective warm-up fights in Thailand and Saudi Arabia last month.
For his part, Fury came through a routine affair against the 46-year-old Mariusz Wach, who he stopped in seven largely uneventful rounds.
‘AJ’, on the other hand, experienced a serious spell of jeopardy as he twice hit the canvas in the opening round of his clash with Kristian Prenga.
Just then, it seemed that the Fury fight could suddenly go up in smoke, only for Joshua to stop his man with a thudding right hand in the following round.
But while it would appear that the wheels are in motion, there is of course the important matter of nailing down a destination for their Battle of Britain.
According to Matchroom promoter Hearn, there is increasing pressure to stage the Netflix event at New York’s Madison Square Garden, as per his conversations with Turki Alalshikh and Dr Rakan AlHarthy of Sela.
In an attempt to resist such pressure, Hearn has maintained that Joshua’s contract states they must fight in the UK while Warren, of Queensberry Promotions, has told BoxNation that Fury’s agreement is not quite the same.
“They’ve got their contract [and] Tyson’s got his agreement, which states something different.
“The fight will happen. I’ve heard what Eddie’s said, and they’re either going to agree to it [being in America] or not. If they don’t agree to it, the fight won’t happen.”
Hearn has said that they are open to discussions on the fight taking place in the US, however has consistently stated that it is not what they want to happen. ‘AJ’s promoter has also said that any early announcement without their full agreement puts the fight at serious risk.
If the two heavyweights do lock horns at Madison Square Garden, it will be the first time Joshua has fought at the venue since his seventh-round stoppage defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019.
