HEVYWEIGHT champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have been told to win their next mandated fights before setting up a “Super Bowl” undisputed title decider.
Joshua’s IBF mandatory defence against Kubrat Pulev has been postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic while Fury’s trilogy against Deontay Wilder, 34, will also be backdated.
Anthony Joshua is the current unified heavyweight champion
WBC and Ring Magazine champion Tyson Fury
It led to suggestions 38-year-old Pulev and Wilder – who surrendered the WBC title to Fury in February – could be given step aside money in order for the Battle of Britain to take place.
But Top Rank president Todd DuBoef has instead urged unified champ AJ and Fury to get past their “semi-final” fights before setting up a historic clash for all the heavyweight marbles.
DuBoef told Sky Sports: “I think inherently the objective for everybody is to live up to the commitments that they both have, and keep it simple, and if they both get past those, let’s go ahead and do it.
“If that was early 2021, that’s great, but I think that’s what the circumstances were, where the chatter started coming back, is because of this pause in events.
“The easiest scenario for all of us to get to – is let Joshua hopefully, if he can get past Pulev, who is going to be a tough mandatory fight for him, and let’s have Tyson get in the ring back with Wilder, and then sets up the semi-finals for the finals, for the big Super Bowl, the big UEFA championship match between Joshua and Fury.
“That to me is the cleanest way and probably the easiest way, where everybody lives up to their commitments. That would be obviously the preference, in order of bouts, in the most simple way.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn previously revealed Joshua, 30, and Fury, 31, could double their earnings by fighting in Saudi Arabia, opposed to in front of home fans.
The idea was even floated around as a way for the pair to box each other now, with Britain and America still under strict lockdown rules.
But DuBoef has backed Fury, whose last four fights have been Stateside, to face WBA, IBF and WBO king Joshua in America because the money from ticket sales would succeed that of fighting in Britain.
He said: “I think that the success of the big events, the biggest events in the history of combat sports, have originated from America.
“I keep going back to that. I think the impact and the success of a PPV being distributed from the United States to the late hours, or early hours let’s call it in the UK – we’ve seen that be very successful and the fans are connected and will stay up.
“My heart of hearts tells me that would be the ideal place, but obviously we would be open to any site and any prospective dynamic that would be different.
“To do a fight in the UK would be fantastic. Both guys are larger than life and to sync that up with the United States. But as we just said, if it was the old world, we just did under $17m with Fury and Wilder and I’m not sure there was a gate in the UK that’s done that.”
British boxing was given a boost after the Board of Control announced plans to return in July, but behind closed doors.
With Joshua unlikely to fight in an empty stadium fearing a dramatic loss in revenue, Pulev’s manager pitched a Roman amphitheatre in Croatia as possible venue.
And Fury – who claimed AJ is a “big cuddly baby” and lacks the same threat as Wilder – now looks set to fight the Bronze Bomber in December at the earliest.
Deontay Wilder was beaten by Fury in February but has a trilogy clauseCredit: Reuters
Joshua’s IBF mandatory title defence against Kubrat Pulev has been postponed amid the coronavirus pandemicCredit: PA:Press Association
Tyson Fury sent a spine-tingling message to the men lining up to face him once lockdown is lifted
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
