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Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua sign two-fight deal for heavyweight unification bout

By Matthew Saljanin

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on December 14, 2020 shows Boxer Tyson Fury (L) during a press conference in Los Angeles, California on January 25, 2020, and British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua during a press conference in Ad Diriyah, a Unesco-listed heritage site, outside Riyadh, on December 4, 2019. - Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn says a deal for his man to fight Tyson Fury in an all-British world heavyweight unification bout in 2021 could take as little as two days to complete. Plans for a "Battle of Britain" have accelerated after Joshua, 31, stopped Bulgarian veteran Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round at Wembley Arena on December 12 to retain all three of his belts. (Photos by RINGO CHIU and FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP) (Photo by RINGO CHIU,FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on December 14, 2020 shows Boxer Tyson Fury (L) during a press conference in Los Angeles, California on January 25, 2020, and British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua during a press conference in Ad Diriyah, a Unesco-listed heritage site, outside Riyadh, on December 4, 2019. - Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn says a deal for his man to fight Tyson Fury in an all-British world heavyweight unification bout in 2021 could take as little as two days to complete. Plans for a "Battle of Britain" have accelerated after Joshua, 31, stopped Bulgarian veteran Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round at Wembley Arena on December 12 to retain all three of his belts. (Photos by RINGO CHIU and FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP) (Photo by RINGO CHIU,FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images) /
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The winner of Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua will be the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000.

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have signed a two-fight contract to unify all four belts in the heavyweight division. The winner will be the undisputed heavyweight champion, something that has not been done in over 20 years since Lennox Lewis. The winner will also be the first man to be the undisputed heavyweight champion during the four-belt era, when Lewis was undisputed, there were only three recognized belts.

The announcement comes after a seemingly endless period of negotiations, but boxing fans can rest easy now that both men have put pen to paper.

Per ESPN, the first fight in the two-fight deal will see a 50-50 purse split. The second fight, however, will have a 60-40 split in favor of the winner of the first fight. ESPN also reports that in an ideal world, both fights will take place in 2021, with the first in the summer and the second in the winter.

While the terms have been agreed upon, the venue has not been made official yet. According to Eddie Hearn, they have been approached from “eight or nine” sites between the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the United States. This is the biggest fight to make in boxing, and there will be no shortage of venues that would love to host this event.

The ideal location to host the event, however, seems to be the Middle East. When Saudi Arabia hosted Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz for their second fight, Eddie Hearn was paid a site fee of $40 million. Given restrictions on in-person attendance due to Covid-19, a larger site fee will help both fighters earn the amount of money they deserve.

Both Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have arguments that they are the true heavyweight champion, and that is what makes the fight so intriguing. Tyson Fury ended the Wladimir Klitschko reign in 2015, and was the king of the division. However, Fury’s well-documented issues with mental health and weight gain kept him out of the ring, and he lost all of his belts.

While Fury was out of commission, Joshua quickly climbed the heavyweight ranks, picking up three of the four major belts, and also defeating Klitschko in a fight of the year candidate.

Fury feels he is the true champion because he is the lineal champion and never lost his titles in the ring. Joshua feels he is the top dog in the division because he holds three of the four belts.

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Regardless of who you agree with, we will have a definitive answer as to who the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world is later this year.

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