Anthony Joshua’s Promoter, Eddie Hearn, has dismissed rumours that Anthony Joshua’s proposed heavyweight unification bout with Tyson Fury is ‘dead in the water’ reports mirror.co.uk.
He said a date will be announced next week for the mega fight.
The clash between the heavyweight champions appeared to be on the verge of collapse this past week after Fury’s team expressed their frustrations with Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, consistently failing to meet deadlines.
Bob Arum, Fury’s US promoter, said the unification bout was ‘dead in the water’ and that the WBC champion would pursue other opponents, namely arch rival Deontay Wilder.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Hearn has responded that he is confident the match will go ahead, after Frank Warren also confirmed that Fury had received his contract for the super-fight.
Hearn told Sky Sports Box Office: “You heard from Frank Warren last night (Friday), who said quite rightly, we received the contract from the Middle East.
“All sides’ lawyers have got to go through that and make sure they’re happy with it.
“But we’re all systems go. This fight is on, this fight is happening. As I told everyone last week, back and forwards with the drafts.
“I believe you’ll get an announcement next week. I don’t know what else to tell you.
“I saw Bob Arum’s comments, ‘The fight is dead’. I don’t know where that came from.
“We know what we’re doing and that’s now been acknowledged by the other side, which is nice.”
Warren, who like Arum also promotes Fury, revealed the Gypsy King’s camp are forensically reviewing the details of the agreement in the contract they received.
“We’ve had something come through from the other side,” Warren told SecondsOut.
“A proposed contract, which we’re reviewing. And obviously we’ll look at it and hopefully we can agree terms. That’s what we all want.”
Hearn added that he expected negotiations to move to the next stage on Sunday night, before declaring: “Right now, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are in the absolute prime of their career.
“You will get this fight next, and you will get it for the undisputed world championship. We cannot move any quicker.”
Both Hearn and Warren’s updates comes as a boost after Arum was adamant that both fighters would take on different opponents in the summer due to the complexities of hosting the bout in Saudi Arabia.
He said: “Fury-Joshua looks dead in the water. Tyson has been out of action for too long and has to fight this summer. Who else is he going to fight other than Wilder? A third fight between them is huge in its own right.
“Eddie [Hearn] only has one fight left with his Joshua contract and he is desperate for it to be this big one. Usyk is a good fight but not as huge as Tyson and AJ. But it doesn’t look possible now before next year or even the year after. Like Tyson, Joshua needs to fight soon.”
