Bob Arum declares Anthony Joshua v Tyson Fury fight is now dead in the water!
Well, well, well, it appears that the fight that boxing fans wanted so badly to happen will no longer be happening. Promoter Bob Arum has come out and declared that the highly anticipated undisputed heavyweight title clash between unified WBA, WBO and IBF Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22KOs) and WBC champion Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21KOs) is dead in the water. Arum explained the situation to telegraph.com in the UK.
“It will take months for the Saudis to do their due diligence on such a huge deal.
It is not just a site fee. There are ancillary demands from the Saudis stretching into the broadcast deals and other things. It could take months for it all to play out. It could even take until 2022 the way it looks right now.
The fight in July or August is dead in the water as far as we are concerned. The two fighters need to go and have other fights this summer while the negotiations for that fight in the Middle East conclude.”
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TOOL LITTLE, TOO LATE?
This all comes after Arum acknowledged the possibility that Fury could be facing former WBC Heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (42-1-1, 41KOs) for a third time. Team Fury and Team Joshua have been entrenched in deep negotiations trying to hammer out a deal for a summer showdown. A two-fight agreement was already in place. The remaining issue was finding a site to host the fight. Eddie Hearn came out and stated that Saudi Arabia would be the host country of the fight. However, that was quickly met with pessimism by Fury co-promoter Frank Warren. Arum detailed this part of the problem as well.
“We cannot wait around any longer. There was a 30-day turnaround for the site and everything else to be agreed after we signed for the two heavyweights to fight each other, but that has now stretched to 45 days.”
Obviously, with a site agreement taking much longer than expected, there is a growing frustration from the side of Fury. The WBC champion has not fought since becoming champion last February when he defeated Deontay Wilder. Hearn is adamant about making the fight a reality, but urged patience. However, Fury is eager to get back in the ring ASAP. Therefore, it’s clear a deal will need to be done sooner rather than later.
At the moment, the fight appears to be on shaky legs. Hopefully cooler heads prevail and things can be smoothed out and give the fighters, promoters and more importantly, the fans the fight they want and deserve.
Gareth Davis of the Telegraph was the first to break the news.
By: Jerrell Fletcher
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