Tyson Fury‘s heavyweight showdown with Anthony Joshua appears to have moved a step closer after the Gypsy King’s co-promoter revealed that his team have finally received a contract for the super-fight.
The clash between the heavyweight champions appeared to be on the verge of collapse this 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 that the unification bout was ‘dead in the water’ and that the WBC champion would pursue other opponents, namely arch rival Deontay Wilder.
However, Frank Warren, who also promotes Fury, has revealed that the Gypsy King’s camp have finally received a copy of the contract and are forensically reviewing the details of the agreement.
‘We’ve had something come through from the other side,’ Warren told SecondsOut. ‘A contract which we’re all reviewing, a proposal.
‘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 has always insisted that £108m deal for a mid-summer battle between Joshua and Fury remains in the Saudi Arabia pipeline, saying: ‘It is definitely, 100 per cent, going to happen. A little support would be nice.’
And Warren has stressed that all sides want to get the deal over the line, maintaining that hard work is being done to finalise the mega-fight.
‘We all want this fight, everyone wants this fight,’ he said. ‘It’s not about being negative, you can only respond to an offer when you’ve got an offer and try and get it over the line.
‘We’re working, everybody is working hard to get this on. And fingers crossed we will get it over the line.’
Warren’s update comes as a boost after veteran promoter Arum was this week adamant that Joshua and Fury would have to take on different opponents this summer due to the complexities of hosting the bout in Saudi Arabia.
‘Fury-Joshua looks dead in the water,’ the 89-year-old said. ‘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 be this big one. Usyk is a 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.’
