Frank Warren admits there is nothing left to discuss as it relates to Anthony Joshua facing his company’s biggest client.
It does not mean that the Hall of Fame promoter is not interested in doing business of any kind with the former two-time unified heavyweight titlist.
The past several weeks have seen Warren’s Queensberry Promotions and Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing attempt to broker a deal for a long-desired Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua all-UK heavyweight showdown. Talks were promising at first but eventually came to a grinding halt, with both parties now headed in separate directions.
“It’s off the table,” Warren said in an interview with IFL TV’s Umar Ahmed. “If you look at it, AJ has to get himself in the mandatory position. To get into the mandatory position, he gets 20 percent of the purse bid, whereas he would have gotten 40 percent.
Oddly enough, both camps will have to remain in talks for the next steps involving at least one strongly discussed possibility. Warren validated rumors of Fury potentially next facing Derek Chisora who is managed by Joshua’s 258 MGT and with both Chisora and Joshua promoted by Matchroom Boxing.
Many view the fight as an unnecessary trilogy clash, with Fury owning two clear cut wins over the veteran trialhorse including a one-sided tenth-round stoppage in November 2014.The main purpose of the fight is to keep Morecambe’s Fury (32-0-1, 23KOs) relatively active, with the lineal/WBC heavyweight championship title defense targeted for December at a UK location to be determined.
“What it’s all about, Tyson has only been out for one fight a year (since 2020),” noted Warren. “We’re just trying to get him out. We expected the fight in December would be [unified WBA ‘Super’/IBF/WBO champ Oleksandr] Usyk. But Usyk wasn’t available. Now it looks like we hope for some time in February. Tyson wants to fight some time before then. He wanted to fight in December and we wanted to get him out. So, we’re getting him out.”
Next steps for Watford’s Joshua (24-3, 22KOs) remain unclear at the moment, other than Matchroom hoping to get the 2012 Olympic Gold medalist and former two-time unified titlist back in the ring before year’s end. Joshua is coming off a second straight defeat to Usyk, the latter in a strangely scored split decision in favor of the Ukrainian southpaw who clearly deserved the win in their August 20 title fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Joshua will likely secure a relevant name in a stay busy affair but no longer has a straight shot at any of the heavyweight titles. Fury—with a third win over Chisora—would eye an undisputed showdown with Usyk or whomever emerges in the ongoing WBC series to determine his next mandatory challenger. Usyk is armed with mandatories with every sanctioning body whose titles he holds.
Matchroom co-promotes IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic (15-0, 12KOs), who likely won’t risk his place in line against a fighter such as Joshua.
Warren promotes the other two mandatories and is confident that either one would welcome a Joshua showdown next or at any point while waiting out their own turn at the division’s top prize. Interim WBO titlist Joe Joyce (15-0, 14KOs) is coming off a sensational eleventh-round knockout of former WBO beltholder Joseph Parker. Meanwhile, WBA ‘World’ (Regular) titleholder Daniel Dubois (18-1, 17KOs), who is still in search of an opponent for an eyed November 26 title defense to be promoted by Queensberry Promotions.
“If [Joshua] wants to fight, there’s two great fights there with Joe Joyce and Daniel Dubois,” notes Warren. “Both hold very significant positions in their respective organizations. They’re both mandatories. One is the interim champion, that’s Joe Joyce. Daniel is the WBA ‘Regular’ champion. There’s another way back if he wants to talk about it.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
