Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have “signed” to fight one another, per a hint from Saudi matchmaker Turki Alalshikh.
For years, Fury and Joshua have been linked to one another, and they even signed a fight deal in 2021, when both were world heavyweight champions. However, the dream fight has long eluded British fans.
That is until now, it seems, with Alalshikh tweeting on Monday: “To my friends in Great Britain - it’s happening. It’s signed.”
The tweet has widely been interpreted as a reference to Fury vs Joshua, who have recently been in talks over a showdown later in 2026.
This month, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told The Independent and other outlets that “AJ” will almost certainly box a different opponent this summer before facing Fury in the autumn.
And shortly after Alalshikh’s cryptic tweet, Joshua’s return bout was confirmed to be against Kristian Prenga on 25 July in Riyadh. It’s therefore expected that the Prenga fight is part of the Fury deal, pencilled in as a warm-up.
Joshua, 36, was involved in a car crash in Nigeria in December, just 10 days after knocking out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, and the accident killed two of his teammates: Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele. Since then, the former two-time unified champion has been training with former opponent Oleksandr Usyk in his native Ukraine. Usyk outpointed Joshua in 2021 and 2022, before doing the same against Fury twice in 2024.
After the latter of Fury’s losses to Usyk, the Briton retired for the fifth time, but he returned to boxing on 11 April, easing past Arslanbek Makhmudov on points. Following that result at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Fury called out Joshua, who was sitting ringside with Hearn.
The pair traded words on the microphone, with Joshua refusing to enter the ring and remaining coy while speaking. AJ did suggest he would box Fury soon, but appeared intent on waiting for the fight to be signed before humouring a public face-off with his compatriot – a former unified heavyweight champion and one-time WBC title-holder.
Such a face-off will take place in due course, however, if Fury vs Joshua truly has been signed.
Of course, Fury vs Joshua collapsed in 2021 despite it being signed, as Deontay Wilder threatened legal action against Fury, leading to a trilogy bout between the “Gypsy King” and the American. Fury stopped Wilder in October of that year, as he had done in February 2020, following their controversial draw in 2018.