Tyson Fury: record, next fight and profile →
Anthony Joshua believes Oleksandr Usyk will be willing to take a step-aside deal to enable Joshua’s undisputed world heavyweight title fight to go ahead, saying that Usyk is a “reasonable person”.
If you’ve gotten to this point and aren’t happy, it’s your own fault. You should have seen it coming last year. In keeping with tradition in this Tuesday morning space, we greet the New Year with a preview of stories other boxing scribes will be reacting to about 12 months from now.
IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua would love to have a showdown with WBC champion Tyson Fury fight at Wembley Stadium. The chances of that actually happening at the moment is unlikely - after the British Boxing Board of Control shut down all boxing events in the month of January - after cases of COVID-19 began to explode.
Tyson Fury kicked off the new year by entertaining an old rivalry. All eyes remain on any progress being made towards putting together what will easily serve as the biggest heavyweight fight in British boxing history. It remains to be seen how soon a deal can be reached for Fury and longtime divisional rival Anthony Joshua to collide for all of the relevant heavyweight hardware, with Fury more concerned about the fight crossing that line than what Joshua will do once they’re finally in the ring.
Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez is backing IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to come away with a victory when he faces WBC world champion Tyson Fury.
Eddie Hearn, promoter for IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, is gaining confidence that a deal will be finalized for a full division unification with WBC champion Tyson Fury. Hearn is currently in serious discussions with Fury's co-promoters, Bob Arum of Top Rank and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions.
Dave Coldwell, veteran trainer and manager, is concerned with the mental state of former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Back in February, Wilder was dropped and stopped by Tyson Fury in seven rounds. It was Wilder's first career defeat and he lost the world title that was captured in 2015.
The year is coming to a close and the biggest fight being discussed for 2021 is a full division unification between heavyweight world champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. The respective camps of both boxers are in active discussions to finalize a two-fight agreement.
Andrey Ryabinsky, the promoter for WBC interim-heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin, believes Oleksandr Usyk is a bit too small to compete with the big men of the weight class. Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight champion, moved up to heavyweight in 2019 with a stoppage win over late replacement Chazz Witherspoon.
Even with fewer categories this year, three previous honorees are in the hunt to repeat in the year-end awards. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Eddy Reynoso and Keith Connolly are among the 2019 year-end recipients who have made their way back to the ballot among the nominees announced for the 2020 Boxing Writers Associations of America (BWAA) awards. Just five categories will be featured for this year’s awards, with the list of nominees formally announced by the organization on Monday.