Tyson Fury’s promoter Bob Arum has claimed the Anthony Joshua superfight is “dead in the water” for this summer.
Arum, 89, has been working alongside Frank Warren on the Fury side of things to get a deal done for the bout. On the opposite side, Joshua is represented by Eddie Hearn, who has been known to have ‘disagreements’ with Warren and Arum in the past.
Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua – off the cards for 2021?
All of the reports in the last few months have suggested that both men want the fight, but that the logistics are still up in the air. From the date to the location, there’s still a fair bit to go before any kind of official announcement.
Both teams are bound to throw accusations in the other direction, and most of it won’t stick. However, these recent comments from Arum to The Telegraph aren’t exactly the most reassuring.
“It will take months for the Saudis to do their due diligence on such a huge deal,” explained Arum. “It is not just a site fee, there are ancillary demands from the Saudis stretching into the broadcast deals and other things, it could take months for it all to play out. It could even take until 2022 the way it looks right now.
“The fight in July or August is dead in the water as far as we are concerned. The two fighters need to go and have other fights this summer while the negotiations for that fight in the Middle East conclude.”
“It is absurd what Hearn is saying that it is a done deal,” Arum added. “If we had just done a site deal without all the other complications that have arisen, we would have a fight by now.
“Tyson Fury is fuming about it and is refusing to keep waiting.”
Despite Arum’s comments, Fury has remained active in his social media call-outs of Joshua, which raises the question of how much we should read into this latest update.
As it stands, Saudi Arabia in August is looking the most likely if reports are to be believed, though there’s still clearly plenty more to come before that’s confirmed.
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