Promoter Eddie Hearn says a fight between former heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua 28-3 (25) and Tyson Fury 34-1-1 (24) is box office gold regardless of whether there are any titles on the line or not.
Two-time unified champion Joshua rebounded from back-to-back points losses to reigning WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk 22-0 (14) in 2021-2022 with four victories in a one year period including three knockouts.
The 34-year-old Englishman is now surveying the heavyweight landscape as he plots his next move. Ukrainian southpaw Usyk, 37, is expected to face ex-WBC ruler Fury in a rematch in October following his split decision win over the 35-year-old Brit earlier this month.
This weekend, Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois will meet in Saudi Arabia, as will Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.
How those two fights play out will go a long way to shaping the future of the heavyweight division for the next year.
The Ring magazine ranks Hrgovic number six and Dubois number 10, while the esteemed publication had Wilder at nine and Zhang at five.
The path to a shot at the winner of the Usyk-Fury rematch for Joshua could well lie with the decision of the IBF, who were poised to strip Usyk of their belt for failing to face their mandatory Hrgovic, 31, of Croatia before Team Usyk applied for an exception.
No decision has yet been made by the New Jersey-based sanctioning body and they are not expected to make a call one way or the other before the Hrgovic-Dubois fight.
For now, Joshua’s promoter Hearn is happy to sit back and wait while he watches how things play out.
“[Usyk] probably thinks he can win the rematch, which I think he’s the favourite to do,” the Matchroom Boxing boss said to the Chris Mannix YouTube channel.
“There should be a rematch because it was a great fight. We had Usyk winning the fight. I had it tight and some had it a little wider, but still a close, competitive fight.
“So as much as I’d like AJ to fight Fury or Usyk, I think that rematch should happen and I’m sure it will come in October in Riyadh.
“If Fury wins the fight for the undisputed, it’s bigger than if Fury loses. It’s still a massive fight, but they [Joshua and Fury] have both lost to Usyk twice.
“It’s always going to be a big fight. But at the same time, we can’t worry about other people. We can’t base our career around Tyson Fury winning or losing.
“The only focus AJ has is regaining the world heavyweight championship. Whether that’s the IBF spin-off, whether that’s Usyk or Fury, we don’t really care. Whoever has got it has got it.
“AJ is not really focused on Fury. He’s just focused on the belts. So we’d love to fight Fury for it. Hopefully, if there’s a rematch, he can do the business [against Usyk], but obviously, he’s going to be up against it.”