Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have signed their contracts for a two-fight deal, ESPN have reported.
Unified WBA ‘Super’, IBF, WBO and IBO champion, Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) and WBC and Ring Magazine titlist, Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) are set to crown the first undisputed Heavyweight champion in the four-belt era this summer.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn and Fury’s co-promoters Bob Arum and Frank Warren have insisted for weeks that a deal was close to being finalised and contracts have been exchanged, however Fury told reporters last week that a deal was not close to completion.
Hearn has now revealed that contracts have been signed and the only obstacle now to overcome is to decide on a date and venue for the fight, with approaches from up to nine sites.
“We’d like to get a site deal confirmed in the next month,” Hearn told ESPN’S Mark Kriegel.
“The hard part is always getting everybody to put pen to paper. But this was a major effort from all parties to get this over the line. You had rival promoters, rival networks and rival fighters.
The contract is signed ✍️
Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn tells @MarkKriegel a deal has been signed for Joshua to face @Tyson_Fury in a two-fight series. pic.twitter.com/AAlvMdM6ey
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) March 15, 2021
“I actually feel we’ve done the hard part.
“Speaking for myself, Anthony and his team at 258 management [258 MGT], I know how hard we’ve worked hard these last couple of months and I just feel that this fight is so big it’s not a difficult sell.
“We’ve already had approaches from eight or nine sites. The offers have come from multiple countries in the Middle East, from Asia, Eastern Europe and America.”
The deal
Joshua and Fury have agreed to a two-fight deal, with a 50-50 split in the first fight and 60-40 in favour of the winner in the second bout.
‘AJ’, 31, stopped IBF mandatory challenger, Kubrat Pulev in nine rounds in London in December and the WBO have since cooled their position on Oleksandr Usyk, who appears set to face Joe Joyce for the interim title.
Fury, 32, ripped away the WBC title from Deontay Wilder in seven stunning rounds in their rematch in Las Vegas last February and whilst the American former world champion was in line for a trilogy, Fury’s team maintained that the rematch clause had expired.
The ‘Bronze Bomber’ took his case to mediation, but a third meeting has seemingly fallen by the wayside.
