Last week, during an interview promoting the Deontay Wilder-Derek Chisora fight, promoter Kalle Sauerland let slip an interesting nugget: The long-anticipated showdown between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury was “done” for September in Dublin. Sauerland, of course, doesn’t promote Joshua or Fury, but he’s well-connected, so his words traveled quickly. Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, fired off a quick denial (“Absolutely no truth to that whatsoever,” said Hearn) but admitted there had been talks with Saudi Arabian officials—including Turki Alalshikh—about “the progress towards that fight.”
That an offhand comment from a rival promoter went viral underscored the obvious: Joshua-Fury, even in their diminished states, remains a boxing mega-event—and arguably the biggest fight in British boxing history. Last December, Joshua knocked out Jake Paul, breaking the YouTube star’s jaw with a devastating right hand. He recently returned to training after recovering from a tragic car accident that took the lives of two of his friends. Fury will end his 16-month layoff on Saturday when he takes on Arslanbek Makhmudov in a Netflix-streamed event.
