Tyson Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren has admitted the United Kingdom might miss out on the Anthony Joshua fight if the Covid-19 situation does not improve.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury 30-0-1 (21) was expected to face WBA, WBO and IBF kingpin Joshua 24-1 (22) in Saudi Arabia in the northern summer before an independent arbitrator ruled that Fury must face former champion Deontay Wilder 42-1-1 (41) for a third time.
That fight was scheduled for the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 24 before Fury withdrew after reportedly contracting Covid-19. The bout has been rescheduled for the same venue on October 9.
With Fury tied up with Wilder, Joshua has opted to face his WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk 18-0 (13) at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in Tottenham, England on September 25.
The proposed fight between Fury and Joshua remains up in the air and is contingent on both big men being victorious in their upcoming fights.
Warren is hopeful the fight to determine the best heavyweight on the planet can still get made, but he is cautiously optimistic at best.
“No one can predict what will happen with Covid,” Warren said to talkSPORT.
“You think about what has happened in the last few days, we’ve had a situation where the numbers are rising.
“We are moving to winter, unless we go to Cardiff and put the roof on, there is no other stadium you can put a fight on in winter.
“They are anticipating Covid is going to be strong this winter, they are saying. It keeps changing and evolving, half of Australia has just shut down. Israel, who everyone was looking at and saying ‘look how well they are doing’, they’ve had massive cases there again.
“It’s happening everywhere. At the end of the day, what has to happen is we’ve got to go with the flow and take advantage of what is around when the two guys fight.
“I hope by the time the guys fight the Covid thing has been beaten and we are in a much safer place and we can look at what our options are.”
Fury fought Wilder to a disputed draw in their first encounter at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in December 2018. The rematch was won by Fury in dominant fashion at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in February last year. Fury beat Wilder from pillar to post before stopping him in the seventh.
Joshua looks to have his hands full against Ukrainian southpaw Usyk, who moved up to heavyweight two years ago after unifying all four major world title belts at cruiserweight and winning the World Boxing Super Series.
Warren is crossing his fingers that there are no banana peels before Fury vs Joshua can get signed.
“If AJ gets through, we want to see AJ vs Tyson fight, providing Tyson gets through, which I hope and believe he will,” Warren said.
