Each issue holding up Joshua and Fury’s £200m deal being done next week
Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are almost ready to confirm what will be one of the biggest fights in the history of heavyweight boxing for later this year.
The undefeated Fury and Olympic gold medalist Joshua are set to bring all four belts together for the first time in the history of the division following their most recent wins over Deontay Wilder and Kubrat Pulev respectively.
Eddie Hearn stated earlier this week that Fury’s American promoter Bob Arum had asked him to cool public talk over the upcoming deal, with the Matchroom boss giving fans a timeline of two more weeks.
With Joshua set to meet Hearn this week to discuss the finer details, the pair could agree to some changes in the terms after their contract offer was sent to Fury’s team.
As reported by the Mail, the location of the bout has not yet been finalised, but the Middle East remains the most likely destination following the success of Joshua rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr.
In addition, the order of the ring walks and who’s name appears first on the billing is yet to be decided, which has the potential to cause a stumbling block.
They add that the fight purse will be split down the middle at 50/50, with the potential rematch going in favour of the first fight winner at 60/40.
That could bank both Brits in the region of £100m each, in what is set to be the biggest fight of the year.
Hearn told iFL TV earlier this week: "To be honest with you I don’t really wanna talk about the fight because I keep saying the same thing, don’t I? 'Two weeks, hopefully it’ll be done'.
“I don’t wanna bore people, but I said to Bob, ‘I’m getting asked about it 20 times a day in interviews, what do you want me to say?’
“So what I’ll tell you – and I don’t think we should go too deep into it – is we’ve sent the contract, we’ve had minor requests for changes which all seem a reasonable discussion.
“And hopefully it shouldn’t be too long to go before an official announcement. Still some work to go, but we’re close.”
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In his guest column for Boxing News, Joshua said: “How close is the Fury fight? I promise you it’s happening.
“But until you hear it from me, don’t buy into anything. I’m serious about the fight so when I announce it you’ll know it’s real. I’m taking my time because there has been a lot of back-and-forth for years.”
With Fury saying on Twitter: "I just got off the phone with (my trainer) Sugarhill Steward in America.
"We are going to smash AJ – one round, two rounds, three rounds. Done! Can't wait."
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