WORLD heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has sparked speculation over his next fight by revealing he travelled to London yesterday [February 13] for an ‘urgent’ meeting.
After outpointing Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA, WBO and IBF titles in November, the Ukrainian announced he would invoke the rematch clause in their fight contracts.
While talks have been ongoing, rumours have swirled about Klitschko potentially retiring – with Fury hinting at his own retirement also – and any news about a second fight between them is yet to emerge.
Yesterday, Fury tweeted: “Some massive news coming soon, had to come to London for an urgent meeting about a massive fight, TBA very soon, u will not believe who!!!!!!”
All Peter Fury, Tyson’s uncle and trainer, could reveal to Boxing News was that promoter Mick Hennessy is currently working on ‘big fights’ for the 27-year-old, suggesting that there are certainly options aside from Klitschko.
Fury was stripped of his IBF title because of the rematch agreement, which meant he was not able to fulfil his mandatory obligations, and American Charles Martin picked up the vacant title in January.
The surprise opponent Fury hinted at could well be the unbeaten American, who has been linked to a fight with Anthony Joshua.
Joshua will fight at the O2 Arena on April 9 but his opponent has not yet been announced – of course, there is an outside chance it is Fury, which would be a monster fight in the UK, though seems highly unlikely at this stage.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, also took to Twitter to dispel that idea, although the unbeaten star’s opponent will be announced at 6pm tonight. That leads in to the next theory – that Fury’s meeting was not about him, but his young cousin Hughie.
Although Hughie is slated to fight on March 26, he would likely drop out of that show if the Joshua fight was offered to him on April 9.
Another heavyweight without an opponent is David Haye, who fights at The O2 on May 21, and while Tyson has ruled out facing the man who twice pulled out of a fight with him, Hughie could well have been matched with him.
With the recent news that Amir Khan will fight Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Guillermo Rigondeaux will fight Jazza Dickens, it’s clear that anything can happen.