Bob Arum says Tyson Fury will be world’s No 1 heavyweight until Anthony Joshua fights in the US

The hall-of-fame promoter says Joshua has to fight in the US if he wants to become the biggest star in the sport

Hall-of-fame boxing promoter Bob Arum has insisted that Tyson Fury is the No 1 heavyweight in the world, and claims Anthony Joshua needs to fight in the US to become the sport's biggest star, despite holding three of the four recognised world titles.

Arum was in London on Tuesday for a press conference to announce that his fighter, WBO World Welterweight Champion Terence Crawford, would take on Amir Khan in New York in April.

“The problem with Joshua is that while he can be big over here, he won’t be established in the United States until he fights in the US,” Arum told Sportsmail.

“The reason for that is when he fights over here, his fights have a very small audience in the States because they take place in the afternoon because of the difference in time.

“He’s got to fight in the United States because if you ask an American fight fan who is the best heavyweight in the world, many of them will say Tyson Fury, and if you ask them who is the best British heavyweight they’ll say Tyson Fury.”

Fury has become well-known in the US after his stunning draw with Deontay Wilder in December, while Joshua’s profile Stateside remains in need of a boost.

Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, also works with Brooklyn-born heavyweight Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller, and a fight between the pair in New York in the first half of 2019 is an option being considered by the Brit's camp.

“I love Eddie, he’s a nice kid and his father Barry is a very good friend of mine, but with all due respect Eddie doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Arum continued.

Anthony Joshua has never fought outside of the UK (Reuters) (Action Images via Reuters)

“To make real big money in this sport you need the American pay-per-view [market] and to have that, you have to fight on primetime on Saturday night in the United States.

“The only way he can do it, Joshua, is to come over and fight in the United States. While the gates [in the UK] are pretty substantial in the sense of the number of people, they are not substantial in the sense of the overall gate revenue and the pay per view which is very good here but is also a fraction of what we charge in the United States.

“So for an ordinary fighter, that is probably true that he would end up making more packing arenas in England but a long run for a heavyweight, for a pay-per-view star, they have to come over and fight in the US.”