Boxing: Fury to return before April; eyeing undisputed title fight

By our reporter On Oct 17, 2021 0

Tyson Fury could return to the ring in April before eyeing an Anthony Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk showdown later in the year.

Fury recently knocked out Deontay Wilder in round 11 of their epic Las Vegas trilogy bout last weekend.

And he’s set to return to the ring next year to take on either Dillian Whyte or Otto Wallin, who fight on October 30.

Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum told FightHub: “Joshua and Usyk, I think they’re going to wait until April 4.

“I think Fury will fight again in March or April. Then we can look to a September or October match for a unification.”

Meanwhile, Joshua has invoked his right to an immediate rematch with Usyk, having lost the unified titles in September.

It leaves any chance of a historic four-belt, undisputed title decider shelved until the end of the year.

Joshua, 31, and Fury, 33, agreed terms for an all-British unification in Saudi Arabia on August 14.

But Wilder, 35, was still owed a contracted trilogy fight and took his case to arbitration and was awarded the verdict.

It means AJ was then ordered into a mandatory title defence against Ukrainian Usyk, and was beaten over 12 rounds.

Weeks later, Fury then knocked out Wilder to retain his WBC title.

Arum hoped a deal could be negotiated for Joshua to sit out and allow the Gypsy King to fight Usyk, 34, for all the marbles.

He said: “Eddie thought Joshua wouldn’t be amenable to a step aside and would want to do the rematch.

“Which is sort of stupidity on his part because no way is he going to beat Usyk in his next fight no matter what new strategy he deploys.”