Tyson Fury’s promoter Frank Warren admits a heavyweight title unification fight with Anthony Joshua is unlikely to come to fruition this year.
The long-awaited Battle of Britain seemed set to take place later this year following Fury’s stunning seventh-round TKO victory over Deontay Wilder last month, which saw him claim the WBC heavyweight title.
All that remained for the pair, 31 and 30 respectively, to face one another later this year was for them to win their upcoming fights against Wilder and Kubrat Pulev.
The coronavirus outbreak, however, has thrown a major spanner into the works of what would be the biggest fight in the history of British boxing.
The global pandemic has led to Fury’s trilogy fight with Wilder being postponed until October, meaning The Gypsy King would have to perform a quick turnaround to take part in an end-of-year clash with AJ.
And Warren concedes the turnaround would be too much for the WBC king.
When asked if the delayed Wilder fight means Fury won’t fight again 2020, the Queensbury Promotions chief said: “Exactly.
“That will push that back to some time in February if that is the case.”
Warren admits the postponement of the Wilder fight is less than ideal for Fury’s hopes of unifying the division later this year, saying: “We need the time to do the Wilder fight justice in terms of promotion, it won’t go on till the autumn.
“The problem you have is also the training camps if they can’t do them properly, they can’t get in sparring partners from around the world.
“Fighters also need a date to be fully focussed on. They want to be at their peak for a date so they need a date to train towards, we can’t give them any dates.
“It is a blow as we would have liked to have got it done in the summer but it is what it is. The whole country is in the same boat, everything has gone on hold.”
Fury versus Wilder 3 will reportedly take place in Las Vegas on October 3.
A venue for the pair’s third meeting has not yet been finalised, although it’s understood the MGM Grand Garden Arena is in consideration to host the fight again.
Warren has ruled out the prospect of the pair’s trilogy fight taking place behind closed doors, adding: “The 18th [of July] will not happen.
“The commission in Nevada has said ‘no boxing’ for the foreseeable future and Las Vegas has closed down all the casinos – it’s like a ghost town there.
“No-one knows what’s happening day to day, all we can do is hope for the best and push it back as far as possible so October looks like the date for the fight.
“A fight between them behind closed doors just won’t happen – these guys are too big names to be fighting behind closed doors.”
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