Both camps have seemingly come to the conclusion that Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury is not going to be up next.
Fury had initially insisted that he didn't require a tune-up fight after an 18-month absence from the ring, maintaining that he wanted to jump back in at the deep end by clashing with 'AJ' immediately.
But Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, gave short shrift to that idea by claiming that Fury would simply not be fit enough in time to be in consideration for Joshua's next outing.
Fury's boxing licence, revoked last year, could be returned to the 28-year-old at an upcoming British Boxing Board of Control hearing but, even then, Fury has had to come to terms with the fact that he will have to prove himself before he is booked for what could be the biggest British pay-per-view of all time.
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Fury remains in Marbella, where he is training with Billy Joe Saunders, and he confirmed Hearn's previous suggestion that April 2018 is the targeted date for his showdown with 'AJ'.
But in the meantime, Fury has a date and show seemingly pencilled in for his first fight since his unanimous decision victory over Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf in 2015.
"I'm out here for the foreseeable future, running, doing circuits, padwork, sparring," Fury told
BritishBoxers.co.uk.
"I'll be back on the July 8 Copper Box show headlined by Billy Joe Saunders. I'll have a few comeback fights, two or three, while I'm waiting for Joshua.
"There’s no money in anybody else, I want ‘Mr Muscles’.
"I can be the best Tyson Fury again, it didn’t slip away, I just couldn’t be bothered no more, it was shit and I didn’t value it, but now there’s £30m involved.
"I was a shadow of my former glory but now I’m on my way back. With me and Joshua, one looks the part, one
is the part."
