Anthony Joshua shares his exciting wish for a big fight with Tyson Fury coming up
Anthony Joshua has made a new request to Tyson Fury as they both prepare to fight this weekend. The two former world heavyweight champions have agreed to face each other in a big match planned for November or December, thanks to Turki Alalshikh who helped make the deal happen.
But first, they both have fights coming up. Fury will fight Mariusz Wach in Thailand on Friday with only 1,500 fans watching, and Joshua will fight Kristian Prenga in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia the next day. This will be Joshua’s first fight since a tragic car accident that sadly took the lives of two of his close friends.
If both win their fights, they are set to finally meet in the ring. Joshua wants to speed things up and have their big showdown on Saturday night, right after his win. He told The Ring magazine, “It would be a dream come true. If I beat Prenga, then bam—Anthony Joshua’s hand raised, and Tyson Fury can come into the ring. That would be amazing.”
This is interesting because Joshua said no last April when Fury invited him to join him in the ring. Fury had just won a fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and from the crowd called out for Joshua to step in, but Joshua stayed seated. He said he wasn’t there to play games but was scouting.
Now Joshua is definitely ready for a face-off and thinks the fight, between two British greats, should happen in the UK at Wembley Stadium. He said, “It would be amazing. If I win on Saturday and everything goes as planned, it would be beautiful for us and for the country. We’re working to make this dream come true.”
Wembley has hosted many big boxing matches before, but Saudi boxing boss Alalshikh wants to make a change by holding the Fury vs Joshua fight very late at night to reach a global audience. The plan is for the ringwalks to happen at 2 a.m. GMT, which is 9 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. PT in the U.S.
This late time would break Wembley’s usual curfew of 11 p.m., so local authorities like Brent Council and the Mayor of London would need to approve it. According to City AM, London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has given the green light, with sources saying a late-night fight is possible.
A spokesperson for Khan said, “London is the sporting capital of the world and the Mayor wants to bring more big global events here. Wembley has hosted record-breaking heavyweight boxing matches, and London would be perfect for the long-awaited Joshua vs Fury fight. The Mayor is ready to support this and help build a better London for everyone.”
While Alalshikh said at first he was told this late-night plan “is not possible,” sources close to the Mayor told the BBC no talks have happened yet.