Top Rank’s CEO Bob Arum expects WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury to delay a final decision on his boxing future until the outcome of the upcoming rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk.
Back in April, Fury knocked out mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte before a crowd of 94,000 at Wembley Stadium in London.
After the fight, Fury explained that he was likely going to retire from the sport.
However, the ‘Gypsy King’ has not officially vacated his world title and many expect him to remain in boxing, at least for a fight with the Usyk-Joshua winner.
Usyk outboxed Joshua over twelve rounds last September, to capture the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO heavyweight titles.
Arum is not anticipating a final decision from Fury until that rematch happens.
“Well, I think Fury is going to wait to see how the Joshua fight comes out with Usyk and then he’ll make a determination whether he wants to continue,” Arum said to Fighthype.com.
“Other than fighting the winner of Joshua-Usyk, there’s really nothing that’s really of interest to Tyson Fury, so we will have to see.”
Usyk vs. Joshua is targeted to take place on July 23 in the Middle East. The first encounter took place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“There is not a problem now but if it is not announced next week then it could be put back a week or two. The fight is definitely happening, the 23rd is the date that everyone has agreed on and everyone is fine with. If we agree next week then everything is fine,” Hearn said to The Sun.
“The date of the fight and the time to train are not the problems, it is more about the extra obligations of TV, press conferences and promotion. Eight weeks out feels OK but once you get down to seven and six, it’s a problem.
“Both fighters know that if we have to do a media tour then it needs to happen in the next 10 to 14 days. Beyond that we will have to move it back a week or two. If we go July 23 then we are nine weeks away and we need to announce next week, it has to be next week. They will want us to do a media tour, we would have to go to the Middle East and London, maybe even New York, so we really need to announce next week.”
Credit: BoxingScene