Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua’s first press conference is expected to go ahead in London on Wednesday after a number of issues were resolved.
The British heavyweight rivals are set to go head-to-head for the first time since their blockbuster heavyweight fight was finally confirmed last week at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11.
But Fury and Joshua will now face the cameras and have a pre-fight face-off at British Airways ARC at the Olympia after an agreement was reached ahead of this week’s eagerly awaited media event.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had recently questioned whether Fury has enrolled in pre-fight drug testing, but Fury’s manager has confirmed to Sky Sports that he has enrolled six days earlier than required.
Fury, his promoter Frank Warren, Joshua and Hearn are now all set to be in attendance in London.
Hearn had told Sky Sports over the weekend that “nothing was confirmed for next week, press conference-wise”, and added: “with regards to are we expecting to be there, there wouldn’t be one without us.”
Fury had raised fresh doubts about the fight taking place on Saturday, insisting there was a ‘one per cent’ chance that he would face Joshua next.
Speaking to the FurociTV YouTube channel, he said: “If you’ve got a guy that wants to fight, yeah, and you’ve got a guy that doesn’t want to fight, then how are you going to make that fight happen?
“I’ve had nearly 40 professional fights, yeah, and I’ve been on top of this game for over a decade, right? How did I manage to fight all these people before you, all these champions, yeah, for all these titles that there is in boxing, but, yeah, every time it comes to fighting [Joshua]… it never happens.
“Has anyone ever asked themselves why?”
But Joshua and Fury are now going to press ahead with their media obligations for a fight that will reportedly have the WBA ‘super’ heavyweight title at stake.
“I’ve just, I’ve just seen today that it’s for the WBA World Heavyweight title as well, so that’s another little bit of incentive,” Fury said in his interview.
“Whoever wins this one will become three-time heavyweight champion. So that’s another incentive to win.”