THE prospect of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury competing in an all-British heavyweight unification bout has received a boost with Kubrat Pulev admitting that he may step aside.
Pulev, 39, is IBF mandatory heavyweight challenger and prior to the global coronavirus pandemic was due to fight Joshua in North London on June 20.
Pulev has now twice been denied the chance to face JoshuaCredit: PA:Press Association
Fury defeated Deontay Wilder back in FebruaryCredit: USA TODAY Sports
But for the second time in their careers, AJ and the Bulgarian have been denied the chance of taking to the ring together.
They were supposed to fight in 2017 at the Principality Stadium, but for Pulev having to pull out with injury – Joshua subsequently comfortably dispatching of stand-in Carlos Takam.
Having now finally sealed a contract, Pulev was at first bullish over his opportunity to face AJ.
He told Boxing Scene: “We have signed contracts for that fight and everything is ready.
“We worked on this contract for maybe two months and it was not so easy. But now we have this contract and I am ready.
“I don’t want to wait. I want the title fight with Anthony Joshua and I will beat him really good and get the second knockout against him.
“I am the mandatory challenger and these are the rules. It doesn’t matter who wants to box him or who he wants to box. Anthony Joshua has to box me.”
When somebody comes to me and tells me something and offers me something, maybe. I don’t know, but I want this fight.
Kubrat Pulev
However with fans clamouring for the Brit to skip his fight with Pulev for a mouthwatering unification bout with Fury, Pulev’s stance softened slightly.
He continued: “I am ready for this fight against Joshua, so I don’t know. Nobody knows. I want this fight.
“When somebody comes to me and tells me something and offers me something, maybe. I don’t know, but I want this fight.
“I am ready for this fight and I believe this fight will happen this year. I’ve waited a long time for this fight with Anthony Joshua.
“I am the longtime mandatory for this fight, but I am open for talking, no problem. But I want this fight. That’s it.
“I am ready to fight everywhere, it doesn’t matter if it’s London or anywhere else.
“Anthony Joshua said the fight had to be in London and I said, ‘OK, no problem.’”
There have also been encouraging signs for fans from Fury’s camp, with his US promoter Bob Arum having recently weighed in on the subject.
He told iFL TV: “It may be that Joshua fights Pulev and Fury fights Wilder and the winners fight next year.
“Or there could be an arrangement where Joshua vs Fury can take place this year.
“That’s where we’re at, we’re trying to do this in a logical way, MTK is fielding offers on behalf of us.
“Absent from this talk is the US and the UK because we don’t know if we’ll be able to do events with a live audience.
“Could there be a step-aside for Wilder? Yeah. But that’s up to Wilder, whether he would accept it, I have no idea.
“And Pulev, who I promote, we haven’t talked about step-aside and he’s contracted to fight Joshua. Could he be convinced to step aside? Maybe.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
