By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury revealed today that he is giving Anthony Joshua a 60-40 split purse, “take it or leave it” offer, for a November fight in the UK.
The fact that Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) wants the fight in November is probably the deciding factor from the start, as that gives Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) very little time to prepare and do not rest of his recent loss to IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk on August 20.
Eddie Hearn already said today that the plan is for Joshua to fight on December 10 or 17. So unless Joshua chooses to overturn those plans, Fury is out of luck with his offer to fight AJ in November.
If you’re Joshua & Hearn, you’re telling Fury to go kick rocks because they’re not going to go along with his November idea, and it’s silly to fight in the UK if there’s more money to be made by taking the matchup to the Middle. East.
If you are Fury, it would be a good idea to change his offer and move the fight to December if he really wants to fight Joshua. It doesn’t matter that Fury holds the WBC title and is undefeated.
His belt means nothing because Joshua is the most popular fighter, and that means everything when it comes to negotiating a fight.
Joshua would be better off telling Fury to miss out and go with his original plan of fighting a top 15 contender in December.
AJ needs to get three tune-up fights under his belt before turning his attention to fighting for a world title.
If Fury is still fighting at the time and hasn’t retired, so be it. He may not be a belt holder by the time Joshua is done with his prep fights, as Usyk could dethrone him in early 2023.
“Hey guys, I’m being bombarded with messages about how much I’m going to pay AJ, and everyone is saying 80-20, 70-30, 75-25,” Tyson Fury said on social media.
“The real answer is that I have offered him 60-40. 40% of this amazing fight because I want this fight to happen. The [Joshua] you no longer have excuses not to take it.
“He can’t say I’ve lowered it, offering him 20% or 30%. I’ve offered people 40%, take it or leave it,” Fury said.
Given Joshua’s popularity, it would be better for him to accept a 55-45 split for the fight in December, not 60-40. Forget November. That is a stupid idea.
