Eddie Hearn today confirmed that he's under "instructions" from Anthony Joshua to make the fight with Tyson Fury this year.
On Saturday, the 35-2-1 (24 KOs) Fury outpointed Arslanbek Makhmudov over 12 rounds to end a 16-month hiatus. Immediately afterwards he called out Joshua, who was ringside, and demanded the fight be signed and sealed there and then. Joshua neither obliged nor turned down the offer of the long awaited showdown.
The 36-year-old last fought in December, knocking out Jake Paul in six rounds. It was then expected that Joshua, 29-4 (26 KOs), would engage entertain Rico Verhoeven in March this year before taking on Fury in August. Tragedy quickly followed, however, when Joshua was injured in a car crash in Nigeria that killed two of his closest friends.
According to Hearn, Joshua is awaiting clearance from doctors to return to full-time training.
"My instructions [from Joshua] are 'make the [Fury] fight'," Hearn said.
"We all know that, around the [time of the] Jake Paul fight, the fight was virtually done. We were going to fight in March [in a warm-up] and fight [Fury] in August. But with everything that has happened, it's been a very difficult time, and that plan has been delayed.
"The same plan still exists. The offer that we received from [Turki Alalshikh] is to fight in July and fight Tyson Fury around November. We're up for that.
"We need to make sure of the timings. The last Saturday of July is 14 weeks away. We need to get that all clear, physically, to return to full-time training, to sparring, which is a different kettle of fish versus getting on a treadmill. This is intense full-time training.
"We believe we're going to be given the all-clear to do that because 'AJ' feels like he's ready.
"If we do that, get everything locked up, I'm fully confident that this fight happens."
