The heavyweight division is one step closer to having one unified champion.
Or is that two steps?
A contract for a two-fight deal between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua to unify the heavyweight titles has finally been signed.
Breaking: Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have signed a two-fight deal to unify the heavyweight titles, ESPN has learned 🥊 pic.twitter.com/fE7sNGpWRr
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 15, 2021
“We’d like to get a site deal confirmed in the next month,” said Eddie Hearn, Anthony Joshua’s promoter to ESPN. “The hard part is always getting everybody to put pen to paper.
But this was a major effort from all parties to get this over the line. You had rival promoters, rival networks and rival fighters.”
Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have agreed to a two-fight deal to unify the heavyweight titles, per @MarkKriegel
Both fights are expected to take place in 2021.
IT’S ON. pic.twitter.com/YvlS4qV79a
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 15, 2021
According to ESPN, the contract’s final signature came on Saturday with the signees believed to include Joshua, Fury, Matchroom Boxing (Joshua’s promoter), Top Rank (Fury’s American promoter), Queensberry (Fury’s English promoter), and Fury’s management company, Dubai-based MTK.
Within the contract there is a deal for a 50-50 split in the first fight and 60-40 in the rematch. The winner would take the higher share.
Few heavyweights can move like @Tyson_Fury đź‘€
(h/t @BTSportBoxing) #FuryJoshua pic.twitter.com/fuuAI9wjZe
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) March 15, 2021
Both fights are targeted for 2021, with the first hopefully in either June or July. The rematch would then be planned for a potential November or December date.
Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua fighting for all four world titles will crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in over twenty years.
However, it has never happened in the four-belt era, so with that contention the winner would be the first. The last person to be labeled the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world was ironically British; Lennox Lewis
The Hall of Famer gained that distinction in 2000. Tyson Fury currently holds the WBC and The Ring titles while Anthony Joshua holds the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO.
