17 November 2020

Fury WILL fight Joshua or Wilder next, confirms promoter Arum after December cancellation

WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will take on Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua in his next fight, promoter Bob Arum has confirmed.

The Gypsy King, who was due to fight in December before the absence of a crowd led to those plans being cancelled, will wait on the outcome of Joshua’s mandatory defence against Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev before he decides who to agree terms with for early 2021.

Wilder is looking to force through a trilogy fight with Fury

(PA Archive)

"I’ve given everyone the word. Wait until the Pulev-Joshua fight (December 12)," Arum told iFL TV.

"If Pulev wins, there’s no Joshua because Eddie has a rematch with Pulev. So that takes care of a big part of next year for Joshua.

"And so that leaves Wilder as the best guy. So if Pulev beats Joshua, we’ll talk to Fury about doing the Wilder fight at the end of February.

"By the end of February, hopefully, the pandemic will be under control, and we’ll at least be able to put the [Fury vs. Wilder III] fight in Allegiant Stadium (in Las Vegas, Nevada), and do it for 15,000, 20,000 people in a 75,000 seat stadium.

"It’s all well and good for Fury to say that he wants to fight Joshua, but who knows if Joshua is going to be around after he fights my guy Pulev."

If Fury and Joshua do meet next year, it will likely be for all four world heavyweight titles and will therefore crown an undisputed champion for the first time since Lennox Lewis.

Arum also responded to Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn’s comments that Fury’s resume is ‘laughable’ compared to AJ’s.

Joshua beat Klitschko 18 months after Fury de-throned the Ukrainian

(PA Archive)

"To compare résumés is pretty stupid," 88-year-old Arum added. 

"It's clear that Fury fought Klitschko when Klitschko was champion. Joshua fought Klitschko after Klitschko had been sort of semi-retired."

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