By Victor Kanayo
The management team of Nigerian-Britian fighter Anthony Joshua has revealed that the two-time heavyweight champion has agreed to an all-British showdown with Tyson Fury on December 3, 2022.
Fury issued the challenge to his domestic rival last week, and provided Joshua with two dates to choose from – November 26 at Wembley Stadium or December 3 at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. Joshua has now accepted the latter.
“Joshua-Fury update: 258 and can confirm, on behalf of @anthonyjoshua, that we accepted all terms presented to us by Fury’s team for a fight Dec 3rd last Friday,’ 258 MGT posted on Twitter on Tuesday morning.
“Due to the Queen’s passing, it was agreed to halt all communication.
“We are awaiting a response.”
Joshua’s team quickly received one on Twitter from Fury’s promoter Frank Warren on Twitter.
Warren replied: “Contract will be with you very soon.”
Following this exchange on Twitter, it now seems that the biggest fight in the heavyweight division is edging nearer to actually happening.
Fury and Joshua looked set to meet last year when they were negotiating for an undisputed fight, but an arbitration panel ruled that Fury had to face Deontay Wilder for a third time instead.
Since then, Joshua has lost twice to Oleksandr Usyk, while Fury has seen off Wilder and Dillian Whyte, and it appeared that the two Brits may never settle their differences in the ring.
However, with Usyk deciding against fighting again in 2022 so that he can rest his body and spend time with his family in his homeland of Ukraine, Fury was itching to stay active and called out Joshua.
He had also previously sent out challenges to Derek Chisora and Manual Charr, so some fans were sceptical about how serious his call-out was.
They may have expected him to send Joshua an underwhelming offer now that he is no longer a champion in his own right, but Fury revealed last Wednesday that he was happy to settle on a 60-40 purse split in his favour.
Should the fight go ahead, AJ could receive help during his training camp from his former opponent Usyk.
Speaking to Sky Sports via Boxing Scene, Usyk said: “If he needs my help, I will go to his camp and help him.
“He is not 40 years old, he is 33, so he should keep working – Anthony, don’t stop. I understand that he wanted to win against me, but Anthony can’t give up. He must go forward.”
Usyk beat Joshua via unanimous decision to capture the heavyweight crowns at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in September, 2021.
Joshua has taken a leaf out of Usyk’s book by copying his brutal training regime.
