Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight in 2020 still a priority despite coronavirus, promoter says

Fury must fight Deontay Wilder before the end of the July, but the covid-19 pandemic has now put that fight at risk

Tyson Fury’s priority is still to fight Anthony Joshua in December this year despite the coronavirus putting his rematch with Deontay Wilder at risk.

The American quickly exercised his rematch clause after being dethroned by the Briton in February in Las Vegas.

The WBC world heavyweight champion is obligated to face Wilder before the end of July, with the provisional date for the trilogy widely reported as 18 July.

But with covid-19 wreaking havoc on the sporting world, promoter Frank Warren concedes the third fight is at now at risk, while Eddie Hearn has also admitted Joshua’s mandatory title defence against Kubrat Pulev on 20 June could be pushed back.

Despite an uncertain immediate future, Warren has underlined the priority remains to make the undisputed fight with Joshua, putting Fury’s WBC belt on the line alongside his rival’s IBF, WBO and WBA titles.

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“As everybody knows, in the immediate aftermath of the rematch, Deontay Wilder activated his contractual clause for a third fight with Tyson. However, nothing has happened at the moment because we’ve all been focusing on where we are now,” Warren told Talk Sport.

“I think everything’s going to go quiet for a couple of weeks and then we’ll see how the land lies. The coronavius pandemic will derail everything.

Joshua and Fury could now meet for all the titles (DAZN)

“If this is the case, it certainly will do that to the rematch, there’s no doubt about that. It will derail every fight. The heavyweights must meet one more time.

“At the moment we’re just in the hands of the government and their scientists until we know what’s supposed to be good for everybody and what the process is gonna be. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better by the sounds of it.

“Tyson vs Anthony Joshua in December remains what we’d ideally like to happen. I hope by then things will have settled down. That’s the fight that everybody wants to see and the fight we all want to make.”