Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua Fight Still in Negotiations, Says Promoter Eddie Hearn

Anthony Joshua's manager suggested Monday that a fight between Joshua and reigning WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury isn't dead despite the two sides failing to reach a deal.

Fury announced Monday that he pulled his offer for a fight against Joshua off the table after the two sides couldn't reach an agreement by his self-imposed deadline.

According to ESPN's Mike Coppinger, Fury said the following Monday on his Instagram stories: "Well, guys, it's official. D-day has come and gone. It's gone past 5 o'clock Monday. No contract has been signed."

In response, Eddie Hearn, Joshua's promoter, said: "There were various positive calls today between promoters and broadcasters who are all working hard to finalize the fight. There has been no talk of a deadline between the parties, but we are moving at pace to try and conclude the deal."

Two weeks ago, Joshua's camp announced that the boxer had agreed to Fury's terms for a fight, although nothing was made official at that time.

Coppinger noted that while the two sides agreed to a 60-40 purse split in favor of Fury, there were several other obstacles that were never resolved, including Fury having pay-per-view deals with ESPN and BT Sport, and Joshua having a contract with DAZN.

Fury expressed his desire to fight Manuel Charr if no deal with Joshua could get done, and Hearn expressed his belief that Fury wanted to fight Charr all along, per Coppinger.

Ultimately, the one huge remaining fight for Fury is a heavyweight title unification match against Oleksandr Usyk, and any fight before then would be a tuneup of sorts for Fury.

Fans have long anticipated a Fury vs. Joshua fight, especially those in the United Kingdom, but it has lost some of its luster in recent years.

While Fury is 32-0-1 in his career, holds two victories over Deontay Wilder and continues to expand his star power by making some appearances for WWE, Joshua is seemingly headed in the other direction.

Joshua was once the toast of British boxing with a 22-0 record and multiple world titles in his possession, but a shocking loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019 changed the trajectory of his career.

Although Joshua won the WBA (super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles back from Ruiz in a rematch, he has lost back-to-back fights against Usyk by unanimous decision and split decision, respectively.

There would still be a great deal of interest in Fury vs. Joshua, but Fury vs. Usyk looks to be the big-money fight now. Fury seems to be positioning himself to be ready for that bout next year by winning a preparatory fight this year.

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