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Anthony Joshua adamant that Tyson Fury fight will go ahead: ‘I’ll do everything in my power’

 (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

It’s the world heavyweight fight British boxing fans have been yearning for, but the much anticipated bout between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury has yet to take place.

Earlier this week, Fury laid the blame squarely at Joshua’s feet insisting that the current world heavyweight did not want to risk losing his belts.

But Joshua, holder of title since his defeat of Andy Ruiz Jr. in December 2019, is adamant that the most eagerly awaited clash in the sport’s recent history will take place and that he is doing everything to make it happen.

Joshua must first contend with Oleksandr Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a week’s time on September 25.

It was a bout only arranged after plans to face Fury in August collapsed when a United States arbitrator ordered Fury to take on Deontay Wilder for a third time.

Tyson Fury (r) is legally bound to a third fight against Deontay Wilder. (Getty Images)
Tyson Fury (r) is legally bound to a third fight against Deontay Wilder. (Getty Images)

Concerns continue to grow that the two British boxing greats would be kept apart before they both called it a day, but the 31-year-old Joshua, who started as an amateur at Finchley, remains optimistic a unification of the division can still occur, should both win their respective contests with Usyk and Wilder.

“We were meant to have fought by now and here we are talking about it,’ Joshua told the Daily Mail.

“But it will happen. I know what people are saying about boxing politics, but I’ll promise before the end of my career I will have done everything in my power to fight Tyson Fury.

“We saw it with Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao (not fighting until they were beyond their primes) but that was a superstar fight.

“Me and Fury is streets, two warriors, two fighters who have come from the amateur system in the UK, and have taken the world by storm. We’ll get it on in Britain.

“Don’t worry about age, boxing politics, don’t worry about the American dollar. This is a British UK fight which can happen at Wembley, Tottenham, the O2, York Hall.

“I look at it less as a mega-fight for the world and more from the point of view that we are guys who first met in Finchley ABC. It is a grassroots fight.”

Additional reporting by PA.

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