Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua sign contracts to unify the world heavyweight titles
Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have finally signed the contract to unify the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO heavyweight world titles. Months of negotiations have gone into materializing the contract which will involve multiple parties, including Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, Fury's American promoter, Bob Arum, Fury's English promoter, Frank Warren and Fury's management company, Dubai-based MTK.
According to Eddie Hearn, Joshua's promoter, "the hard part" of the deal has been done. The Managing Director of Matchroom Boxing, Hearn told Mark Kriegel from ESPN-
"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 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 two-fight contract between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua calls for a 50-50 split in the first bout and a 60-40 split in the rematch, with the winner taking the higher share. So far, talks indicate that the first fight will take place in June or July and the rematch will ideally be scheduled for November or December, 2021.
Also Read: What is Anthony Joshua's Net Worth as of 2021?
Tyson Fury was frustrated with the negotiations
Tyson Fury recently expressed his dismay with the negotiations in an interview with IFL TV in January. 'The Gypsy King' even went as far as stating that he had stopped training for Joshua and had also resorted to beer as a source of his calories. Unconvinced of the fight materializing, Tyson Fury told IFL TV-
"Whatever they say is very unimportant to me because, until I have a fight date and a hell-of-a-lot of money in my pocket, there is no fight. Will I be fighting Joshua in the next ten minutes? No. Do I think the fight will eventually happen? Yes, it has to happen. Do I think it is next or imminent? No. I am not going to put all my eggs in one basket because I have been guilty of doing that before and, when the fight doesn’t happen, that is when I end up in a massive depression and feel like killing myself."
The winner of Joshua vs Fury will be crowned the undisputed world heavyweight champion.