Tyson Fury promoter Frank Warren is already looking beyond the Fury-Deontay Wilder rematch on Feb. 22, urging Anthony Joshua to relinquish his belts and wait for the winner.
Warren says Joshua’s mandatory title defenses could get in the way of putting together a fight between the unified heavyweight champion against the winner of the Wilder-Fury fight at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand on pay-per-view.
“If I was Anthony Joshua, I wouldn’t fight again until we know the winner of this fight and then make them make the fight,’ Warren told the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph. “I’d let them strip me of my titles and not fight anybody until the big one.”
Joshua, who holds three of the titles, is considering a mandatory defense against Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev in March, April or May of next year. But an upset is always a danger, especially in the heavyweight division. To wit: Andy Ruiz Jr.’s stunner on June 1 over Joshua, who went on to reclaim the belts in a rematch on Dec. 7 Saudi Arabia.
‘The one thing about Pulev is that he can whack,’’ Warren said. “So, for me, I would say: ‘You know what. I want to fight the winner of our fight (Wilder-Fury II).’
“Get all the parties together, work something out, maybe with some step-aside (money), because that’s what the public want.
“They want to know who’s the No. 1. The No. 3 and the No. 4 fought in Saudi. The No. 1 and No. 2 are fighting on Feb. 22.”