Bob Arum insists that no talks will take place for an undisputed world heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua before both champions get their summer defenses out of the way.
Arum, the US promoter of Fury, says he and British co-promoter Frank Warren are both keen on a Fury-Joshua fight this year but said no conversations have so far taken place with Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter.
The Top Rank boss is due to hold talks on Monday with Deontay Wilder’s representatives about nailing down plans for a third fight between Fury, the WBC champion, and Wilder, after the former champion activated the rematch clause in the contract from their fight two weeks ago. July 18 in Las Vegas is the likely date, although nothing is confirmed yet.
Meanwhile, Joshua will defend his WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF titles against Kubrat Pulev, the Bulgarian promoted by Top Rank, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20.
“Of course we are interested in making that fight,” Arum said during a call with British writers. “Of course Tyson would want to do it, for the money, for the prestige and for the good of the sport. But the time isn’t now to work out details.
“Don’t just assume that Joshua will still be around at the end of the year because I don’t think he will be, I think Pulev will beat him. Pulev is yards and yards better than Andy Ruiz Jr who, if I remember correctly, knocked out Joshua.
“The idea of talks now is ludicrous. If Joshua comes through and Tyson comes through, of course we will have talks. Why waste time talking about something that might never come to fruition? If my guy Pulev hits Anthony Joshua on the chin, there ain’t no Fury-Joshua fight.”
Hearn had called for talks now, saying he wanted a deal in place before either bout takes place, but Arum dismissed that. However, he hinted that he would have no problem setting up a deal that involved DAZN, pointing out that there was no real reason why DAZN could not do a pay-per-view fight, just as ESPN have.
“If Tyson and Joshua both come through their fights then Frank and I, as Fury’s promoters, will sit down with Eddie Hearn, or whoever, and figure out when and where to do a Fury vs Joshua fight,” Arum said.
“I have done business with Eddie Hearn before and DAZN. Adults can do business with everybody. Everybody will sit down when the time comes and workout how the event will be distributed. We want to make the pot as big as possible for everybody.”