Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has said his fighter has accepted Tyson Fury’s offer of a 60-40 purse split in the “Gypsy King”’s favour for a heavyweight clash between the Britons.
Joshua failed to regain the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles from Oleksandr Usyk last month, suffering a second straight points loss to the unbeaten Ukrainian, who dethroned “AJ” in 2021.
As such, a mega-fight with Fury looked to have slipped away for good. However, Fury this week offered Joshua the chance to challenge him for the WBC heavyweight title before the year is up, all the while proposing a 60-40 purse split in his own favour.
“We offered Tyson Fury the fight when he wasn’t champion, at 60-40, and he turned it down; he asked for 50-50,” Hearn told iFL TV on Wednesday (7 September).
“I spoke to AJ [this time], and he said: ‘Look, I don’t believe he’s for real, but yeah, I’ll take the fight. See what the offer is.’
“They came back yesterday, and me and George [Warren, Queensberry Promotions] kind of had an agreement that we weren’t gonna talk about it, but obviously Fury came out and basically let the world know the offer.
“Sixty-forty was the offer, as Tyson said. They want a rematch clause, and they asked for a date at the beginning of November [for the initial fight]. I don’t know whether that was a wind-up or whatever, but we just went back this morning and said: ‘We think, I think particularly, he deserves more than 40 per cent, but he’s happy. And I don’t make the decisions, he does.’
“So, I went back this morning and said: ‘We accept 60-40, we want that reversed in a rematch, rightfully so. [Fury is] the champion here, you want the biggest split, which I think is fair, and we wanna do the fight in December.’”
Hearn added that Queensberry, which promotes Fury, already has a December date secured at Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
“Interestingly, they have 17 December held at [what was formerly] Millenium Stadium, so that’s perfect. That’s perfect for us.”
Fury, 34, last fought in April, knocking out Dillian Whyte at London’s Wembley Stadium to retain the WBC title. Fury then claimed to be retired but announced last month that he will keep boxing.
He was expected to take on Usyk next, in a fight to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion, but the Ukrainian is not expected to be fit in time for a December clash with the Briton.
As such, Fury has turned his attention to Joshua, whom fans have long wanted to see face his compatriot.
