Warren Urges Joshua To Give Up Belts And Fight Wilder-Fury Winner Next
Top British promoter Frank Warren, like the rest of us, wants to see, once and for all, who is the number-one heavyweight on the planet. Warren obviously feels his man Tyson Fury is the best – now he wants a massive showdown with Anthony Joshua to take place so as Fury can prove it to everyone else. To this end, Warren has urged Joshua to give up his two belts, the IBF and the WBO, so he doesn’t have to take up 2020 with mandatory defences against Kubrat Pulev and Oleksandr Usyk.
Warren, speaking IFL TV, said if he were Joshua he would “let them strip me of my titles” and fight the Fury-Wilder II winner next. It’s the fight the public wants to see, Warren correctly states. Naturally Warren feels Fury will defeat Wilder on February 22, but Joshua, who also talked with IFL TV, spoke about a potential showdown with Wilder and how it should be staged in the UK, not in the US.
“80,000 people or an arena that can hold 15,000 elsewhere? It makes sense to have it here [in the UK],” Joshua said. “That’s probably what’s holding it up, we want it here. Obviously there’s broadcasters, but we have to look at what makes sense for the division. Sometimes you’ve got to go across the pond to make it work.”
Hopefully, with a clear winner between Wilder and Fury in February, we will be one big step closer to either a Fury-Joshua clash or a Wilder-Joshua clash; wherever the fight happens. Really, either fight would be bigger than mere belts, so maybe Joshua would be smart to do as Warren suggests. Things will get complicated, however, if Wilder and Fury box to another close, debatable or controversial fight in their return – another draw for instance. That would likely mean a Wilder-Fury III. In that case, Joshua would naturally get busy fulfilling his mandatory obligations.
As Warren said, we should all wait and see what happens on February 22. Wilder is promising a KO win this time (“I knocked that fool out last time,” he said). While Fury has vowed to make Wilder “quit.”
It’s the biggest confirmed fight for 2020, and everyone will be watching to see what happens when Wilder and Fury meet again, at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas.