In a rare bit of boxing news that doesn’t involve someone with the last name Paul, promoter Eddie Hearn recently hinted that the much anticipated world heavyweight unification bout between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury is a done deal. While the venue itself remains up in the air, sources confirm that Saudi Arabia will be the host nation after it was leaked that the Saudis were willing to pay upwards of $150M just to put on the event.
With plans to host the card on either August 7th or 14th, Hearn indicated that the preferred date would be the 14th so as not to conflict with the Tokyo Olympics. Although, with recent spikes in case counts in Tokyo, the summer games are no slam dunk to go through as scheduled themselves.
Fury and Joshua signed a two fight mega deal back in March to unify the heavyweight titles. Tyson Fury currently holds the WBC title, while Joshua has the IBF, WBO, WBA, and IBO titles in his possession. If you’re confused as to why boxing seems like it’s playing with alphabet soup when it comes to their most prized titles, you’re not alone. One of the biggest gripes the casual boxing fan has had over the years was the emergence of various championship bodies, belts, and promotions. Promotions which will often keep the best fighters away from one another longer than most would like.
While not new to combat sports, boxing is unique in the sense that there often isn’t a consensus on what the top tier belt to retain at a given weight class is. In MMA, although there are leagues like Bellator, ONE, Pride, IFL and others, both fans and fighters alike know that “the big leagues” is the UFC. In boxing, many fighters consider the WBC (World Boxing Council) belt as the most prestigious amongst the litter, however does Joshua holding 4 different belts to Fury’s 1 mean he’s a superior fighter? That’s where things get sticky, and is also why unifying the belts this August isn’t just good for the fighter’s pocketbooks, but for the sport in general.
At its peak, everyone in America (and to a degree, in most countries around the world) knew who the heavyweight champion was. Even people who weren’t boxing fans knew who figures like Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, and Muhammad Ali were. Up through the 90’s people followed the Tyson reigns, the Holyfield fights and can probably tell you where they were when Buster Douglas shocked the world. However money, politics, and egos began to flow into the sport as PPV figures soared, and suddenly everyone wanted a piece of the action.
The creation of multiple “brands” wound up fracturing the sport into different promotions with board rooms, not boxers, deciding what direction the sport would go. In fact you have to go all the way back to 1999 when Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield to find the last instance where there was an undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. With the unification of the belts happening for the first time in 22 years, suddenly one begins to realize why the Saudis are willing to open the vault to host the bout.
So come August, prepare yourself for something that seems to happen as often as Haley’s Comet passes earth. The undefeated Fury (30-0-1) will put his perfect record on the line when he steps into the ring with the uber talented Joshua (24-1). Regardless of who emerges victorious, the real winner in all of this may very well wind up being the fans. Not only will they be treated to a generational fight, but maybe, just maybe, boxing will see the light and begin to move towards a unified era of best on best in the future.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner