The co-promoter of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) says the recent power shift in world boxing could see the long overdue bout between the self-styled ‘Gypsy King’ and is longtime rival Anthony Joshua 27-3 (24) finally take place this year.
Britain’s Fury, 35, is locked in to face WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 18.
The pair are widely expected to enter into an immediate rematch regardless of the result, but Fury’s American co-promoter Bob Arum says a second fight between the pair is far from set in stone.
Former two-time unified champion Joshua, 34, has breathed new life into his career in the past year, boxing four times for four victories with three knockouts.
The Londoner’s activity has made him visible and a highlight reel knockout of Francis Ngannou 0-2 last month has only served to stoke interest in a Fury fight after the WBC titleholder was lucky to escape with 10-round split decision win over the former UFC heavyweight champion last October.
Joshua’s recent run of form has impressed veteran promoter Arum.
“I think the knock on Joshua has been that he’d lost his confidence,” the Top Rank boss told the Daily Mail.
“If a fighter loses his confidence, he’s very diminished. Now Joshua seems to be regaining his confidence and if that continues Joshua will be a very dangerous fighter that could compete with anybody.”
Arum can envisage three scenarios in the Fury versus Usyk fight with two of those results leading directly to a bout with Joshua.
And with the financial backing of new powerbroker Turki Alalshikh, it’s a fight that could be very easily made.
“What happens if Fury-Usyk turns out to be a classic? A fight that is so exciting and so thrilling that the public wants to see it again?” Arum asked.
“Then that would certainly trump a Joshua fight and contractually, it’s a fight that has to happen.
“Now, what happens if it’s a one-sided fight and Fury wins the fight? Then maybe everybody can sit down with His Excellency Turki Alalshikh and work out some arrangement to go right to Fury-Joshua.
“If Usyk wins the fight, I don’t think there would be that much demand for an Usyk-Joshua fight because after all they fought twice and Usyk beat him twice. So, one fight at a time, that’s my motto.”
Speaking of Fury’s lacklustre performance against Ngannou, Arum chalked it up to a poor training camp.
“I look at his performance with Fury as really Fury being not ready to fight anybody that night, but Ngannou did what he had to do to make it competitive,” he said.
“[Fury] knows how tough a fight Usyk is. Usyk is a tremendous athlete, very determined, has never lost a fight. So I really believe we’ll see the best of Tyson Fury on May 18.”