TYSON FURY will be fighting Anthony Joshua or Deontay Wilder next, according to Bob Arum.
The Gypsy King was desperate to get back into the ring on December 5 but a number of issues have prevented that from happening.
After defeating Wilder for the WBC Title back in February, the Bronze Bomber failed to invoke his rematch clause in time to secure a trilogy fight.
However, even though the American is adamant he is the man to face Fury next, the Brit has verbally agreed to a two-fight heavyweight unification clash with AJ.
Joshua has to get past 39-year-old Kubrat Pulev first on December 12, and if he does it will be Fury waiting for him, although Wilder will get his shot at his rival if AJ suffers a shock loss next month.
Fury’s Top Rank co-promoter Bob Arum explained to IFL: “I’ve given everyone the word. Wait until the Pulev-Joshua fight.
“If Pulev wins, there’s no Joshua because Eddie has a rematch with Pulev. So that takes care of a big part of next year for Joshua.
“And so that leaves Wilder as the best guy. So if Pulev beats Joshua, we’ll talk to Fury about doing the Wilder fight at the end of February.”
He continued: “By the end of February, hopefully, the pandemic will be under control, and we’ll at least be able to put the [Fury vs. Wilder III] fight in Allegiant Stadium [in Las Vegas, Nevada], and do it for 15,000, 20,000 people in a 75,000 seat stadium.
“It’s all well and good for Fury to say that he wants to fight Joshua, but who knows if Joshua is going to be around after he fights my guy Pulev.”
Explaining why Fury failed to get a deal for a bout against German star Agit Kabayel over the line, Arum said: “We were going to show money from the United States on a telecast on a Saturday afternoon, which isn’t an ideal time because of all the football games.
“And I guess, Frank [Warren], what was he going to do? There’s no gate, and it’s just pay-per-view. With all the pay-per-views in the UK, Frank couldn’t come up with a sizable guarantee because who knew.
“You can’t pay a fighter when you don’t have the revenue coming in.
“So I think Tyson realized that he wasn’t going to get the money that he’s used to getting, so he decided not to do the fight.”
Matchroom Boxing boss Hearn has hinted that while a date for the unification fight is close to being agreed, the two Brits’ showdown may be held outside of the UK.
Hearn wrote in a column for SEday Times: “Everyone wants to see Joshua fight Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight title.
“We are looking at May, June [2021].
“Where will it be? The main problem is lots of countries have substantial budgets from their governments to bring in major sports events. We don’t.
Ultimately, if you sit down with a fighter and say there’s £30million in England or £60m in the Middle East, it’s a very short conversation.”
