Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has said on Monday that Joshua and Tyson Fury have signed a deal for two world heavyweight title unification fights.
Confirming the agreement, Hearn told ESPN: “The hard part is always getting everybody to put pen to paper. But this was a major effort from all parties to get this over the line. You had rival promoters, rival networks and rival fighters.”
He said a venue for the all-British fights, in which Joahua’s WBA, IBF and WBO belt and Fury’s WBC belt will be lost and won, is set to be confirmed “within the next month”.
Reports say Saudi Arabia, where Joshua won a rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019, is tipped favourite to host both fights.
However Hearn told ESPN he “already had approaches from eight or nine sites” across the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe and America.
“We’d like to get a site deal confirmed in the next month,” he said.
Both Joshua, 31, and Fury, 32, stand to earn £100 million ($139 million) each, with the purse split 50-50 for the first fight and 60-40 for the rematch in favour of the defending champion.
Since after a rematch defeat of Andy Ruiz, Joshua has defended his WBA, IBF and WBO titles against Kubrat Pulev in London in December.
Fury has not fought for more than a year since defeating Deontay Wilder in February 2020 to claim the WB
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