Eddie Hearn hands Tyson Fury deadline to reverse retirement and salvage Anthony Joshua fight
Eddie Hearn insists Tyson Fury must reverse his retirement in the ‘next three to four weeks’ to salvage a summer showdown with Anthony Joshua.
Fury hung up his gloves earlier this week after suffering a second consecutive defeat to Oleksandr Usyk last month.
Before dropping the bombshell announcement, Fury was being heavily linked with the long-awaited all-British showdown against Anthony Joshua.
However, those plans have now been put on hold.
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Fury’s promoter Frank Warren told talkSPORT on Monday that he believes his client’s career is over.
But Hearn is holding out hope that Fury will change his mind like he has so many times before.
The original plan was for Joshua and Fury to duke it out in the summer of 2025, although they will have to get a move on if that were to still happen.
Hearn told the Daily Mail: “None of us know what Fury will do next, but if we are to see the fight in the summer, he would probably have to come out of retirement in the next three or four weeks.
“After that, the summer gets difficult for a fight of this size.
“The future? Hopefully […] I think he will be back, but it’s in his hands.
“For AJ, we have options to pursue and we are looking at them currently.'”
If Fury does stick to his guns then Hearn has named Martin Bakole, Dillian Whyte, and Deontay Wilder as well as the winners of Daniel Dubois vs Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel as potential backup options for AJ next.
Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh wants to see Joshua vs Wilder next if he can’t make the Fury fight while he’s also eyeing up a blockbuster showdown in Africa with Bakole as well.
“If you want something about the British markets, I want to see Joshua and Wilder now,” he told talkSPORT on Thursday.
“If Tyson is not available why not Joshua and Wilder?”
Speaking about Bakole, he then added: “We finished the deal with Bakole against the Nigerian fighter [Efe] Ajagba.
“We finished that as they must do it because this is mandatory for the IBF.
“Then after that we are open to see Joshua also against Bakole.
“I want to see this fight right. I want to see it but you know where I want to see it. I want to see it in Africa.”
