The fighting community received a massive updated this week on Twitter. Tyson Fury announced that he will fight Anthony Joshua on August 14 in Saudi Arabia to determine the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Joshua currently holds a multitude of titles, including WBA, WBO and IBF. Joshua posted a video to drum up hype, saying “All eyes on the world will be on the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” Meanwhile, Fury said in a Twitter video “I cannot wait, repeat, cannot wait, to smash Anthony Joshua on the biggest stage of all time. This is going to be the biggest sporting event ever to grace the planet Earth.”
Before fighting fans get too excited, though, promoter Bob Arum pointed out that each side was still waiting on final contracts, a major development considering Arum told The Telegraph that the fight was “dead in the water” less than three weeks ago. “We still haven’t gotten the final contracts. …We’re supposed to get a clean draft on Monday,” Arum told ESPN. “But Prince Khalid has assured Tyson that there will be no problems, and everybody who has dealt with Prince Khalid and his team knows them to be men of their word.” Fury did say that he has received assurances regarding the fight from Prince Khalid Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Saudi defense secretary, saying “this fight is 100% on.” The site fee is rumored to be $155 million, including $75 million for each fighter.
To further spell doubt on this fight, on Monday judge Daniel Weinstein ruled in mediation that Deontay Wilder has a right to face Fury for a third time before September 15. Two fights back to back for Fury would be incredibly unlikely to happen. Fury and Joshua did sign a two-fight deal in March to unify their heavyweight titles, so we’ll see what happens.
