Frank Warren has warned Eddie Hearn that there are many hoops to jump through before a fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury can be made.
After Fury dominated Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas to claim the WBC title, he and fellow Briton Joshua now hold all the heavyweight titles between them.
Both Joshua and Fury are keen to unify the division, with a mouthwatering all-British affair on the cards in 2020.
However, while both camps are keen to get the fight on, Warren – Fury’s promoter – issued a warning to Joshua’s promoter Hearn that there are several stumbling blocks before they can lock horns in the ring.
Wilder has announced his intentions to trigger a rematch clause to set up a third bout with Fury, while Joshua has two mandatory defences of his title scheduled for this year against Kubrat Pulev and Oleksandr Usyk.
And while Hearn is bigging up the historic fight, Warren told him to get his affairs in order before the two men go toe-to-toe.
‘He says a lot of things, doesn’t he? He says whatever suits him on the occasion,’ Warren told TalkSport.
‘When we tried to make the fight before, it was a problem. He knows full well what his contractual obligations are.
‘He knows his fighter has got a mandatory defence against Pulev and one against Usyk. So to get that fight on, a lot of people have got to be paid and looked after to step aside.
‘Tyson has no problem fighting him, we’ve called the fight enough times. We’ve never changed our mantra.
‘We’ll talk with Anthony Joshua’s management, we’ll talk to Freddie Cunningham and see what we can do.’
Asked if Joshua would be the underdog for the fight, Warren added: ‘Absolutely. He would be the underdog. There’s no doubt about that.
‘He would be the underdog and it doesn’t matter what he’s got to say, Eddie Hearn, it doesn’t mean a row of beans what he’s got to say at the moment. All those issues I’ve just mentioned have to be dealt with.
‘He can gloss over them all he likes but they are realities. The two defences that AJ has are mandated by the governing bodies belts that he holds and we’re contractually where we’re at.
‘No one is trying to duck the AJ fight, we tried to make it two years ago, a year ago. They’re the ones who didn’t want the fight – and for obvious reasons.
‘When you see Tyson at his best like you saw him on Saturday night, you say who would be the favourite – he would be a massive odds-on favourite.’
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