Tyson Fury’s next fight: Anthony Joshua response, Oleksandr Usyk latest
The search for Tyson Fury’s next opponent continues to go on.
The lineal heavyweight champion currently holds the WBC belt but is yet to schedule his first fight of 2023. Fury was last in the ring for his stoppage victory over Derek Chisora in December but was unable to finalise an agreement for a unification fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
The Ukrainian has now been ordered to fight mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois in August, leading to plenty of other names emerging as potential opponents for the ‘Gypsy King’. Here we keep track of the latest names mooted to be fighting Fury:
READ: Tommy Fury jokes about contract clause included for proposed KSI fight
Anthony Joshua
The showdown that British boxing fans dreamt about for years has lost some of its shine since AJ’s back-to-back defeats to Usyk. Joshua did get back in the win column against Jermaine Franklin in April, though, and last week Fury suggested that he had sent a “draft contract” to the former world champion.
Queensbury promoter George Warren confirmed that Fury’s team had made a “formal offer”. However, Eddie Hearn outlined Joshua’s plan to fight again this summer before a mooted showdown with Deontay Wilder and shared his doubts about reigniting negotiations with Fury.
"I spoke to AJ (about Fury), AJ laughed and said 'isn’t he fighting Jai Opetaia, or Demsey McKean, or Jon Jones?' I said 'no, they’re telling us they want to fight you, but we’re fighting in August or September,' that’s our plan.”
He continued: “Of course we’re interested in that fight. We just don’t know what to think. The confidence we have in basing our plans around Tyson Fury is very thin but it’s my job to go through those motions.”
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren has since added that