Bob Arum and Frank Warren have hit out at Anthony Joshua’s claim that a fight with Deontay Wilder was still being suggested as an undercard fight on Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk’s card.
Fury, the current WBC heavyweight champion, has agreed a deal to face Usyk provided that he overcomes Francis Ngannou on October 28th, 2023. Prior to the deal being made, there were reports that Saudi Arabia was considering an AJ vs. Wilder fight on the same card. However, Skills Challenge Entertainment failed to get the fight over the line, as the General Sports Authority became the leading voice in Saudi boxing. That left Eddie Hearn with no option but to seek out other venues, something which has proven unfruitful as of yet. At the same time, Warren and Arum appear set against the idea.
The Queensbury promoter highlighted the two previous offers that were made to Joshua, both of which failed to result in a fight being made. A 60-40 offer was presented prior to Fury facing Dereck Chisora. However, disagreements over the nature of the deadline meant that talks were scuppered. An offer on the same terms was made once again for a fight in the summer of 2023. However, Joshua was on course to face Dillian Whyte, who then failed a drug test, as AJ chose Robert Helenius instead. And that had been enough for Warren and Arum to distance themselves from dealing with Joshua.
“He was offered the fight without being on the undercard. He was offered twice to be the main event with Tyson, but it didn’t happen. I’m fed up talking about it,” Frank Warren
“As far as I’m concerned, this is an English thing; it’s a real Brit thing. As far as I’m concerned, nobody in the United States really knows Anthony Joshua because the only time he fought in the United States, Andy Ruiz knocked him out,” Bob Arum