Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury would be the biggest boxing show in UK history, according to a TV exec
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Alan Dawson
Sep 17, 2022, 01:44 IST
Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.Photos by Getty Images
It's too early to talk about Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua, a TV exec said this week.
Joe Markowski of DAZN did say, though, that it would be the biggest PPV show in UK boxing history.
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LAS VEGAS — A prospective heavyweight showdown between marquee fighters Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua would "arguably be the biggest fight you can make in boxing," according to Joe Markowski, a TV executive who wants to broadcast the bout.
Should that fight get booked, it would rival a likely November match between American welterweight rivals Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. as the fight of the year. But moreover, a one-two punch of marquee showcases would help raise boxing back into the mainstream consciousness.
Sources close to that fight maintain that little has changed, and it remains a probable addition to the end-of-year combat sports schedule.
Meanwhile, ESPN recently reported that Fury vs. Joshua may also take place in 2022, floating a date in early December at the 75,000-seat Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. If the heavyweight bout happens, it may depend on Fury's broadcast partner BT Sport working with Joshua's DAZN.
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'The biggest pay-per-view show in British boxing history'
Markowski, DAZN's CEO of North America, told Insider at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas this week that while it is "early to talk about AJ and Fury" it would easily be "the biggest pay-per-view show in British boxing history."
Joshua is in desperate need of a rebound win, following back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk, who Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez called "the No. 1" fighter in the sport when speaking to Insider this week.
But fighting Fury, who has never been beaten, is a remarkably difficult task, considering his thumping trilogy win over America's concussive puncher Deontay Wilder and his knockout victory over Dillian Whyte in April.
"Is it relevant that Joshua's lost three times in total, and lost twice in a row? I don't think so," Markowski told us. "I think it's about the narrative and the ingredients of the fight of what it means to the British public."
Boxing negotiations are not yet finalized, according to Markowski. If and when they are, he — as one of the broadcasters expected to air the event — expects to start talking with BT Sport.
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DAZN 'clearly' wants Fury vs. Joshua to happen
"Clearly, we want it to happen," Markowski said.
Markowski added that the fight's commercial appeal is different from when the match was first discussed on a serious level in 2020.
That year, Joshua possessed three of the division's four major titles, and hadn't yet lost to Usyk. Fury, meanwhile, held the WBC heavyweight championship.
The fight would have therefore produced an undisputed champion in boxing's glamour division — something that hasn't been done since Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield in 1999.
"I think it makes sense for different reasons now … probably not the reasons we thought it would make sense a year and a half ago, but it makes sense for valid reasons," the executive said.
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Though it is a dangerous attempt at a comeback for Joshua, Markowski said the heavyweight has little to lose.
"There's no undisputed status, there's no unbeaten record to protect, but rather than wait, why not now? The public still cares about it," he said. "Narrative trumps all the other bullshit, and narrative for that fight is huge.
"Now, with a stadium booked for the fight in December, when we get the nod from promoters, we'll get into it."
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