Bob Arum Hopes Potential Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury Fight Takes Place In The UK

Top Rank Boxing promoter Bob Arum claims Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury is an easy fight to make and is hopeful it will happen in 2021.

The pair looked set to clash in a highly-anticipated heavyweight title unification bout only for Deontay Wilder to derail those plans.

Fury is now set to face Wilder for a third time in October while Joshua will defend his heavyweight titles against Oleksandr Usyk in September.

Should both fighters come out on top, the goal is to unify once again with Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn mentioning February as a potential date.

While Arum — who represents Fury — agrees the fight will happen in 2021, the month remains to be seen.

“The problem with Eddie? He cannot stop talking,” Arum told Sky Sports. “When he says February? He is saying the fight will happen next year which is clearly correct.

“Joshua is fighting in September, we are fighting in October. Obviously [Joshua vs Fury] will take place next year. But February, March or April? That remains to be seen.”

When talks were ongoing earlier this year, it looked likely that the fight would take place in Saudi Arabia.

And while it would be much more lucrative to host the event there, Arum hopes a fight of this magnitude can take place in the United Kingdom.

“My hope is that the fight goes to the UK,” he said. “I don’t care what the money is.

“Both fighters owe the UK fans this tremendous event at Wembley or Cardiff, rather than taking it to a foreign country.”

And as far as any other potential mandatories are concerned, Arum had the following to say:

“My position is: if Fury and Joshua win, screw any mandatories! Fury vs Joshua is the fight that people want to see. Period. End of story.

“That is an easy fight to make. It is not a hard fight to make. We had the fight rolling. The central elements had been taken care of. There were no problems, really, on the deal.

“Why did the deal stall and not get finalised? In my opinion, overreaching. We were all in line: ‘OK, do the fight in Saudi Arabia’. If we had struck a deal with the Saudis, the arbitrator would not have [ruled for Fury to fight Wilder instead].

“He would have allowed [Joshua vs Fury] to happen, and he would have given damages to Wilder. But there was no deal with the Saudis. That’s what happened. It won’t happen again. Before we negotiate outside of the UK, we will have strict rules as to who is part of the negotiating team.”