Talks over a potential heavyweight super-fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have been put on hold ‘out of respect’ for Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday.
Following Joshua’s second straight decision defeat by Oleksandr Usyk last month, a result that saw “AJ” fail to regain the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles from the Ukrainian, an all-British clash between Joshua and Fury looked to have slipped away for good.
However, last Monday, WBC champion Fury offered the 32-year-old a shot at his belt, and Joshua had even agreed to a 60-40 purse split in his opponent’s favour as talks advanced throughout the week. The Queen’s death on Thursday then led to the cancellation of many sporting events in the UK, including all boxing over the weekend, and it also affected talks between Joshua and Fury’s camps, according to Frank Warren.
“We’ve put it all on hold at the moment,” Fury’s UK promoter told Talksport on Sunday. “It wasn’t appropriate obviously, that’s how we feel.
“We’ve put it on hold and will pick up on it in the next week or so. From our perspective, we don’t feel it is appropriate out of respect for what has happened.”
Fury, 34, last fought in April, knocking out Dillian Whyte at London’s Wembley Stadium to retain the WBC heavyweight title. Fury then claimed to be retired over the following months before informing the WBC in August that he intends to continue boxing.
The unbeaten Briton has pressured compatriot Joshua to accept a late November or early December fight.
Joshua would enter such a bout on the back of two straight losses, both having come against Usyk, who dethroned Joshua in September 2021 before retaining the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts against him this August.
