Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are expected to fight next in their ‘Battle of Britain’ heavyweight clash in the first half of 2025. The two aging Brits will make an absolute fortune, and their loyal UK fans will eagerly order it on PPV to watch.
Both ex-champions are seen as being washed up after losing their last fights and will meet in a match that has no meaning. This fight is just about money.
Meaningless Matchup
Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) lost for the second time to unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk last Saturday night and looked in terrible shape.
You could tell from how fat he was that he’d either not put in the work or had come into training camp so obese that three months was not going to be nearly enough time to trim off the pounds. It’s probably a bit of both. Fury doesn’t care anymore because he’s one of the mega-rich and doesn’t have the same motivation as he would if he were poor.
“Not particularly. It’ the battle of the losers in terms of both of them are coming off the back of defeats. They no longer have the prestige they had before,” said Simon Jordan to talkSport Boxing about him not having an interest in seeing a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua now.
“I like my boxing with jeopardy and meaning, not with bragging rights and finances. There’s nothing at the end of it other than everyone is making sure that Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua get a big payday and someone gets the bragging rights for two fighters that are on the other side.
“Joshua’s just been cleaned out by Daniel Dubois. He lost twice to Usyk. Fury has twice been beaten by Usyk. He hasn’t had a meaningful fight. He chose to go down the path he went down. He decided to fight Ngannou. He decided to fight Dereck Chisora. Neither of those fights prepared him for Usyk. He’s reaped the whirlwind of it.”
Turki Alashikh would be doing fans a favor if he insisted that Fury and Joshua beat one or two of the top 10 contenders before he’d agree to finance their ‘Battle of Britain’ match. He should wave a carrot of $100M by telling them both that they must run the gauntlet through these fighters before he’d give the green light for their match:
For Fury
– Martin Bakole
– Daniel Dubois
For Joshua
– Agit Kabayel
– Bakhodir Jalalov
Cashing In
“So, looking at it [Fury vs. Joshua], I understand why people want to see it. I suspect if it were on, I’d watch it, but am I clamoring to see Fury vs. Joshua in a fight that has no meaning behind it besides bragging rights?
“They’re no longer the pinnacle of boxing. I can understand the economics of it. I understand that Frank [Warren] and Eddie [Hearn] will make a pile [of money] out of it, so it’ll happen. Turki Alalashikh will probably want to make it happen because it gives everybody something to look at. But as far as the fights is concerned, what is it for?” said Simon.
You can understand why Fury, Joshua, and their British promoters want this fight to happen. It will make a lot of money, likely bringing those two ex-champions career-high paydays. They’re both washed, but Turki wants to see them fight, and the British will want to watch it.
The U.S. public will watch, but they won’t be excited about this fight compared to the February 22nd card, which features Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2.
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