Growing optimism that Fury vs. Joshua mega-fight will happen in 2021

The undisputed heavyweight title clash may soon be reality.

All four major heavyweight boxing titles belong to Tyson Fury (WBC) and Anthony Joshua (IBF, WBA, WBO). Any sensible person wants to see these two British giants face each other, and while boxing can often disappoint by delaying great fights far too long or never making them at all, this time it might be different.

Promoters Bob Arum and Eddie Hearn may be rivals but there is mutual interest in co-promoting and lining up Fury vs. Joshua for this year. Arum told Sky Sports that the hope is to have contracts signed perhaps as early as the end of this month:

“I don’t want to make a deadline, but I just can report that everything so far has been going splendidly, and we hope to have a signed document within the next couple of weeks,” Arum said. “We’re all on the same page, as far as I can see. I’m 95 percent confident the fight happens, and I’m 100 percent confident that my guy wins, and wins by knockout.”

For what it’s worth, this is what Hearn said shortly after Joshua knocked out Kubrat Pulev in December.

“I had a good chat with [Bob Arum] him last night. It’s positive,” Hearn told Sky Sports News.

“I think we’re all in the same position. We want to move forward with the fight, quickly as well, which is good news for fans.

“Just trying to solve any remaining issues of the fight, of which there aren’t many, to be honest with you, and try and move forward collectively to let the governing bodies know that we plan to stage this fight probably in May, and we would like this to be for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.

“A few small issues to iron out, but I think we can start look at drawing up contracts and try to get this moving.

Needless to say, this is boxing and we may have the rug pulled out from under us but I believe both men are so clearly above everybody else that no other fight makes sense for them at the moment. You can’t waste time “marinating” especially when Joshua has beaten most of the top-ten already.

You may recall that after Tyson Fury’s emphatic TKO win over Deontay Wilder in their February rematch, a trilogy was on course for the end of 2020 before the pandemic kept pushing the event back. Now the rematch clause has expired and while Team Wilder is fighting this through mediation, it really seems like we won’t see Fury vs. Wilder III any time soon but for good reason.

There is of course the obvious question of where the fight will be held. The United Kingdom seems unlikely any time soon, but the Middle East and Singapore have both been explored as options, as they would surely produce massive site fees to help cover the purses for both headliners. It’d also be more possible to have fans in attendance at either location.

We don’t know how the broadcast situation would sort itself out, and whether we’d get an ESPN PPV or an ESPN/DAZN co-production similar to the ESPN-FOX co-production for Fury-Wilder II.

So check back in a few weeks and maybe we’ll have some good news for a change!