Deadline! Fury Gives Joshua to Midnight to Accept Big Money Super Fight

Editorial By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent

 London, UK (September 1o, 2022)– Lineal and World Boxing Council World Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and promoter Frank Warren gave Anthony ‘AJ’ Joshua the ultimate deadline, by midnight tonight, Saturday, September 10, 2022, to decide if he will take a match with Fury on November 26, 2022, or December 3, 2022, with a 60-40 percentage purse split in Fury’s favor, with a 50-50 split rematch clause.

 Such an immediate negotiation my way or the heavyweight highway hardball approach will more than likely leave AJ with a salty taste in his mouth. The sudden approach seems one of humiliation, but maybe not. Oleksandr Usyk, the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO World Heavyweight champion from Ukraine, is not accepting a titular unification bout for now in 2022. Andy Ruiz Jr. has beaten Luis Ortiz and has won the WBC eliminator.

 Fury, 32-0-1 with 23 knockouts, ‘The Gypsy King’, Morecambe, Lancashire, United Kingdom, may be looking to reverse his supposed sudden retirement within calendar time allowed with the WBC to get in a few more megafight big cash bouts. Joshua, 24-3 with 22 knockouts, Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, now an ex-champion after losing to Usyk twice, and losing and winning to Ruiz, would be the biggest money option on the table for Fury in an all-Briton explosive boxing affair.

 Joshua must (in the mold of the Rocky Marciano versus Muhammad Ali trilogy proposal in 1965 which never took place) decide whether or not to call Fury’s bluff and take the money, or not, upfront plain and simple. If AJ takes the deal, he looks like a money chaser. If AJ refuses, he looks like a chicken coward. Perhaps both parties should consult with King Charles III, the new king of the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth realm, to see if he has an amicable solution to Fury’s big money desires. Fury contemplated, then drew back from, a trilogy bout with Dereck Chisora, after Chisora won a rematch with Kubrat Pulev.

 As the song goes from the musical Cabaret, ‘Money makes the world go round, it makes the world go round’. The of late hot and cold Joshua would be best served with a comeback win over a major contender, or a somebody. The issue is Fury has to unretire to take the Joshua two-bout proposal, and if it is take it or leave it, both Fury and Joshua may never see the king of money their matches would bring with anybody else.

 Timing is key. The second factor is availability. The timing is right for both Fury and Joshua, and both men are available. Given Fury’s winning run, it does not seem likely Joshua would have beaten him if he had done a titular unification bout with Fury after winning the rematch with Ruiz. Then too, Andy Ruiz Jr. may not want to step aside for Joshua and force Fury’s hand. If Fury says no, Ruiz would be in line for the winner of Robert Helenius versus Deontay Wilder for the vacant WBC World Heavyweight title.




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Robert Brizel - Head Boxing Correspondent
Robert Brizel - Head Boxing Correspondent
Robert is the Head Boxing Correspondent for Real Combat Media Boxing since 2013. Robert is also a photographer and ringside reporter for the RCM Tri State region which includes NJ, NY and PA. Robert conducts exclusive interviews, provides historical boxing articles and provides editorial ringside coverage of major boxing events. You can contact or follow Robert on Facebook and by email at [email protected].