As far as Anthony Joshua and company are concerned, the ball is now firmly in Tyson Fury’s court.
Earlier this week, representatives for the former London heavyweight champion announced they had agreed to all terms set by WBC heavyweight champion Fury and his promoter Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions for an all-British fight at the end of the year.
“258 and @MatchroomBoxing can confirm, on behalf of @anthonyjoshua, that we accept all terms presented to us by Fury’s team for a fight on December 3 last Friday,” read the tweet from Joshua’s management company, 258. .
Queensberry immediately responded to the tweet, saying contracts were being sent to Joshua and his people.
This is at least the second time Joshua and Fury have been in negotiations for a fight. The British heavyweights appeared poised to fight each other last year when an arbitration hearing ruled that Fury owed a third fight with Deontay Wilder. Fury would stop Wilder that October in round 11 at the T-mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Fury’s offer to Joshua comes on the heels of Joshua’s second straight loss to unified champion Oleksandr Uysk in their rematch last month in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Fury is coming off a sixth-round knockout of mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte in April.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, said recently that he remains “hopeful” that a deal can be reached with Fury, while expressing some caution given past failed attempts. Hearn made it clear that Joshua has done everything he can to make the fight with Fury a reality.
“We signed for the fight before,” Hearn told FightHype.com. “We never backed out of that fight. We signed for the undisputed fight and it fell through because of a legal case with Wilder, arbitration. We’ll see. I’m hopeful. We’ve been here before. We agree to the terms.
“AJ can’t do more. He is ready to fight.”
Asked if he was suspicious of Fury’s enthusiasm for fighting Joshua, Hearn declined to speculate.
“Maybe they think it’s a good time to fight Joshua,” Hearn said. “But I don’t want to downplay it. I don’t want to accuse anyone of anything. I want to try to make the fight. So let’s see.
