Tyson Fury will have to spend some time on the boxing side-lines, where he will certainly be waiting for a response from Anthony Joshua
He secured a wide victory on the judges’ scorecards and promptly challenged British rival Anthony Joshua, who was watching from ringside. However, before any potential showdown with AJ can materialise, Fury and Makhmudov have been prohibited from fighting by the British Boxing Board of Control.
Every fighter competing under BBBoC jurisdiction must comply with a compulsory suspension straight after their bout.
Section 5.4(a) of Regulation 5 in the BBBoC’s Rules and Regulations handbook states: “No Boxer shall box in a contest within six clear days from the date of his last contest.
“The Board or Area Council shall have power to waive this restriction in cases where a late substitute is required but this must be subject to the Boxer having won his last contest within the first two rounds. No boxer shall be permitted to engage in more than one contest on any one day.”
Fury stepped back into the ring following consecutive defeats to heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk – marking his only professional losses thus far. He has now made it abundantly clear that an all-British clash with Joshua is the sole bout that appeals to him.
“I challenge you, Anthony Joshua, to fight me next. Do you accept?” Fury declared to the audience. However, Joshua declined to confirm whether a bout between the two was on the cards, instead branding Fury a “clout chaser” and saying: “You aren’t going to tell me what to do – I’ve been chasing you for 10 years.”
AJ told Netflix: “We’ll see. I was just in a serious incident, maybe four months ago. So I really need to check out what’s going on in my return to the ring.
“But I’m here, I’m keeping my eye in the game. There’s real stuff happening in my life. It’s not like I’m ducking no one. I know what my job is.
“I know what I’m here to do. There’s just real stuff happening in my life that I’ve got to attend to. Once I’m 100 per cent, I’ll be ready.”
Joshua and Fury were expected to face each other in 2021, but a US arbitrator ruled the Gypsy King was legally compelled to fight Deontay Wilder in a rematch as a result of a clause in-putted into their deals. Joshua then had to defend his the WBA, IBF and WBO belts against Oleksandr Usyk, who went on to beat the Brit at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
