BOB ARUM is ready to line up Tyson Fury to at last fight Anthony Joshua this year.
Fury is currently in negotiations for the heavyweight division’s first ever four-belt undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk.
Meanwhile, AJ returns on April 1 against American Jermaine Franklin following consecutive losses to Usyk.
But should Joshua get back to winning ways with Fury also emerging with all the belts, Arum wants to finally commence the Battle of Britain.
He told iD Boxing: “Down the line, if Fury is successful then the best fight for him would be Anthony Joshua.
“If they don’t mess around like they did last time, I would certainly like to put that fight together, providing Joshua wins his fight in April.”
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Joshua, 33, was beaten for the second time in the space of 11 months by Usyk, 36, in Saudi Arabia in August.
But the Ukrainian ruled himself out of then unifying the titles against Fury, 34, who wanted to return in December.
The Gypsy King made a shock callout to AJ which was accepted but talks predictably collapsed.
So Arum wants to avoid a repeat episode if the two teams come to the negotiation table again.
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He said: “That fight, we were talking about before Tyson fought Chisora, we had the percentages and everything and then Joshua pulled out.
“Well, OK there might have been reasons for that etc, etc, but a straight forward negotiation in the time is right for that is what we’re looking for to get that fight over the line.
“There’s no reason why that fight couldn’t happen but Fury has to beat Usyk first and Joshua has to beat the guy he’s fighting.”
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn claimed Joshua will fight Fury in the summer if he beats Franklin.
But the WBC champion shot down the idea in an interview with SportBible.
Fury said: “I don’t even go there anymore. No interest in any AJ questions. Zero. Man’s dead in my eyes.
“There’s no business between me and him to be done. Finished.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
