“ON THIS DAY” pieces are usually nostalgic affairs, where memories are dusted off and retold with a hint of rose-tint. They remind us of nights when boxing felt bigger, cleaner, and simpler. But sometimes, anniversaries are less comforting. They remind us of opportunities lost, of rivalries that never found their rightful conclusion.
September 22, 2018, Wembley Stadium: Anthony Joshua defended his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles against Alexander Povetkin. He was fighting in front of 80,000 fans, the latest chapter in his reign as British boxing’s superstar attraction. The bout itself was compelling enough and needed to be after Joshua v Parker and Joshua v Takam.
Povetkin caught the champion in round one with a short left hook. Blood poured from the champ’s nose. A definitive warning shot. The challenger landed big punches in all of the first three rounds. A Joshua hook cut Povetkin in the fourth – the power and vulnerability of the Brit wrapped up in 12 minutes. Povetkin stayed confident but had the belief knocked out of him in the seventh by left and right hooks. The Russian carried on but another Joshua onslaught ended it in the seventh. Job done.
The fight, however, was not without controversy. Povetkin had twice failed drug tests earlier in his career, and the legitimacy of his position as WBA mandatory was openly questioned. Tony Bellew, then still active and only weeks away from his own farewell against Oleksandr Usyk, was damning.
“It’s an absolute disgrace that these guys are getting to fight and continue,” Bellew told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Someone is going to be killed at the hands of a drug cheat… and when it does, I hope that fighter is locked up for the rest of their life, because it’s premeditated murder in my opinion.”
Bellew’s words still echo today. Boxing has caught more offenders since, but the uneasy sense that its governing bodies move the goalposts remains. In that regard, little has changed.
Joshua, meanwhile, revealed afterwards that he had been ill in the build-up. “I had a head cold,” he admitted. “I felt like a heavy gust of wind could knock me over. But I’ve got one geezer in the ring who will fade sooner or later, so let’s just get on with it.” He had found a way, as champions do.
Nine months later, that gust of wind came in the shape of Andy Ruiz Jr, who floored Joshua four times in New York and shattered the aura of invincibility. Joshua would regain his titles in the rematch, but the scars remained. The “wrecking ball” who demolished opponents with a mixture of menace and momentum was replaced by a more cautious craftsman, wary of risks that once thrilled him.
Even on the night of Povetkin, though, the conversation was elsewhere. The British public had already begun clamouring for Joshua to face Tyson Fury. Fury was deep into preparations for his first fight with Deontay Wilder, the beginning of a rivalry that would come to define the era. Joshua, unbeaten and marketable, was the division’s financial power. Surely a meeting between the two most recognisable heavyweights of their generation was inevitable.
But in boxing, inevitability is often an illusion. Negotiations broke down before they ever truly began. Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter, demanded a 50–50 split. Matchroom head Barry Hearn scoffed. “It’s not a 50-50 split against the best heavyweight in the world – you can forget that completely,” Barry told BBC Radio. Tempers frayed further when Warren and the Hearns argued about numbers live on air. Planning ahead, as so often in this sport, proved futile.
What was supposed to follow was simple enough: Wilder and Fury would fight, a winner would emerge, and then Joshua would step in. Instead, the Wilder–Fury rivalry consumed years, while Joshua lost and regained titles before being usurped by Oleksandr Usyk.
Seven years later, Joshua and Fury still have not fought. What we’ve had instead is a carousel of headlines, social-media promises, interviews, retirements, un-retirements, and endless speculation. The one constant has been Usyk. He dethroned Joshua and outmanoeuvred Fury, and remains the sport’s true heavyweight champion, while Joshua and Fury continue to circle beneath him, each insisting they still belong at the summit.
And yet the talk never dies. Joshua v Fury. Fury v Joshua. Will it happen? Won’t it? Should it? In truth, the timing that once made it a generational showdown has long since passed. The fight that could have defined the division in 2018 or 2019 would now serve as a lucrative event, but not the epoch-shaping clash it once threatened to be.
Still, in a sport where Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson can command global attention, there is little doubt that Joshua–Fury would pack a stadium tomorrow. Many would watch for the spectacle, others for closure. Some would watch because, after seven years of build-up, they feel they have to.
But the sense persists that the moment has been missed. The rivalry that could have captured a golden snapshot of British heavyweight boxing remains, instead, an unfulfilled promise.
Seven years gone. How many more to wait?
