This Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, heavyweight contender Hughie Fury will face former champion Alexander Povetkin at the O2 Arena in London. The fight is part of the undercard to the lightweight clash between Vasiliy Lomachenko and Luke Campbell.

Fury recently signed a co-promotional deal with Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport.

Hearn revealed that Fury was at one point in position to face Matchroom's superstar fighter, Anthony Joshua.

Several years ago, around the fall of 2015 when Joshua collided with Dillian Whyte, Fury was the mandatory challenger to the British title.

Fury and his team were calling for the fight, but Hearn admits that he didn't take them seriously at the time.

"Actually, there was a time around the Anthony Joshua versus Dillian Whyte fight that Hughie was the mandatory for the British title," Hearn explained to Sky Sports.

"I never believed that Peter Fury and [promoter] Mick Hennessey wanted the Joshua fight. But now I know them, they did want the fight because I've seen them fight Joseph Parker aged 22, and Kubrat Pulev aged 23.

"Now aged 24 he's fighting Povetkin, so the guy is fearless. There was a time when the Hughie versus Joshua fight was very close - I just didn't believe them! Now knowing them, I know they wanted it."

Peter Fury, father and head trainer of Hugh Fury, says they would have certainly taken the fight with Joshua - had it been offered at the time.

"Well, I think as history tells you now, it would have been taken. I'd said we'd take it, and we would have taken it, and if it comes up in the future, or any fight comes up in the future," Peter Fury said.

Hughie has two defeats on his record, which were decision losses to Parker and Pulev, and he hopes that a win over Povetkin will place him right back in the mix for bigger names.