A massive battle for the British heavyweight belt has been proposed by Tyson Fury to Anthony Joshua before the end of the year.
While following his April victory over Dillian Whyte Fury hinted at retirement from boxing, he is currently looking for a high-profile opponent after rival champion Oleksandr Usyk announced he would not fight again until 2023.
After Joshua’s second loss to the Ukrainian last month in Saudi Arabia, his promoter Eddie Hearn is weighing his options for the 32-year-comeback old’s to the ring.
On his 34th birthday last month, the undefeated Fury announced his retirement after going through several changes of heart over whether or not to continue boxing.
He appeared to clarify in a video shared to social media on Monday that he had changed his mind once again.
“You’ve all heard that I’m going to be fighting within the next two months,” Fury said. “Before I announce an opponent, I need to do something just in case.”
“Given that you recently lost a fight to Usyk and are currently belt-less, I’d like to offer you the chance to fight me for the WBC heavyweight world championship and the lineal championship in the coming months.
“You’ve just finished a 12-round battle, so you’re in great shape and ready to go. I’m giving you a couple months’ notice.
“If you’re up for it, I’ll send you the date and we can have a British war for the world heavyweight title of the World Boxing Council. Send me a message if you’re thinking about it. Unless you agree to a different challenger, I shall choose one.”
In response, Joshua told Fury to get in touch with his representatives on Twitter.
Joshua wrote, “I don’t conduct the internet talks simply for clout,” and then he added, “I’ll be ready in December.”
With his last loss to Usyk, former champion Joshua’s record dropped to 24-3, yet a fight between him and Fury would generate enormous interest in Britain.
On Friday, Usyk claimed he planned to set up a unification bout against Fury next year after successfully defending his WBO, IBF, and WBA championships against Joshua.