Boxing: Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua: On collision course in more ways than one

After years on the outside looking in, British boxing is enjoying its best days in the heavyweight ranks since Lennox Lewis sat atop the division at the turn of the millenium.

This time around, it’s not one British world heavyweight champion getting everybody talking, but two, and of course, this means they’re set to do battle down the line. It appears that the date has been set: July 9.

This first battle between the two behemoths, however, won’t be in the ring - rather, at the box office.

Tyson Fury shocked the world when he ended the 11-year dominance of Wladimir Klitschko back in November. The win earned him five versions of the world title and cemented him as the man in the world of big men.

However, office politics conducted by the team of a boxer who wanted their guy to get a title shot without having to face someone like Fury or Wlad meant one of those belts, the IBF title, was soon removed from the Morecambe man because he had the audacity to honour the rematch clause inserted into his contract with Klitschko.

After many months of negotiations, the date for Fury-Klitschko II has been set, and will be for the other belts Tyson took from the Ukrainian. Meanwhile, the IBF belt went on a fascinating journey over the last four months and could ultimately lead to one of the biggest collisions in the history of these shores.

Fury’s first title defence would have likely been against Vyacheslav Glazkov, a then-unbeaten heavyweight, also from Ukraine, named the top contender by the IBF. With Fury contracted to give Klitschko a rematch, the likely end result of negotiations would have been a request to the IBF for Fury to make one voluntary defense ahead of the Glazkov mandatory.

However, Main Events, representing Glazkov, made the deliberate move of using the IBF rulebook to request they go straight to purse bids. This meant that Fury had to make a choice: fight Glazkov, or drop one of his many belts to honour the far more lucrative fight.

Just like that, Glazkov was in a fight for the vacant IBF belt in Brooklyn and January without having to risk his unbeaten record against one of two fighters extremely likely to end it. Mission accomplished for Main Events, right?

Wrong.

Glazkov hurt his knee in round three in January and had to relinquish the contest, his coveted ‘0’ and the vacant world title to his opponent.

That opponent was Charles Martin, a man you may have seen on Sky Box Office on Saturday wearing a ridiculous crown, minutes before he was on the canvas courtesy of two thunderous strikes from one Anthony Joshua.

Just like that, Britain now has not one, but two world champs in the heavyweight ranks. As you may have seen on Twitter over the last week, they are two men clearly gearing towards a big domestic fight against one another.

Thanks to Joshua, promoter Eddie Hearn’s post-fight proclamation on Saturday it appears their in-ring showdown hinges on them both winning their next fights - which will now happen on that very same date, July 9.

Joshua, according to Hearn, will fight one of the top 15 ranked contenders in a big Wembley card, the first since Froch-Groves II. Is it wise for the two behemoths to be battling over a split of the live gates and buy-rates, at a point where each man would likely draw a huge crowd to any venue in the UK on an unopposed Saturday evening? We’re about to find out.

As much as boxing fans are legitimately starting to become invested in the prospect of Joshua v Fury down the line, the battle of Sky Sports vs BoxNation and Matchroom vs everyone else looks set to take precedence.

Is there a chance that July 9 could spoil the ‘battle of the unbeaten Brits’ before it even happens? Of course, there’s a chance of any result in boxing. I’m pretty confident, however, both Fury and Joshua will emerge from their next bouts still undefeated, still champions and ready to do battle this winter.

Klitschko is no easy fight, of course. But Fury showed in Dusseldorf the tactical approach which many experts believed for years did indeed exist, and it’s hard to envision a way for Wlad’s ageing legs to find a way to handle that a second time around.

While Joshua’s fight on July 9 is unlikely to have the name opponent of Fury’s first defence, his blistering stoppages are creating more positive buzz than the tactically-intriguing but undeniably dull Fury-Wlad fight last year. It will be interesting to see whether fans pick the bigger fight or the hotter act on the night.