The warm-up fight and the mega-fight to follow have both been signed by Anthony Joshua. Thereby ending a decade of speculation, argumentation, provocation and joculation between himself and Tyson Fury.
AJ will finally make his agonised comeback in Riyadh on July 25 against little-known, mostly-untested but allegedly big punching Albanian Kristian Prenga. That is part one of a deal which will come to a climax in the Battle of Britain with the Gypsy King.
So says Saudi paymaster Turki Alalshikh with this pronouncement on Joshua versus Fury: ‘To my friends n Great Britain, Itis happening, it’s signed.’
The when and the where of it?
The date will be by the end of this year, most likely November. The place a little more likely Croke Park in Dublin than Wembley, which reinforces the certainty that this is all being made possible by loads of money.
Tyson Fury (left) and Anthony Joshua have signed a contract to fight, claims Turki Alalshikh
Joshua will fight Kristian Prenga in his comeback fight first on July 25 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
When Joshua declared himself sufficiently recovered now from the psychological anguish of losing two of his best friends in that horrific December car crash in Africa he added: ‘The landlord (as he calls himself) will collect his rent.’
As for Fury, who now resides in the tax haven of the Isle of Man, he would save millions by boxing AJ in the Emerald Isle rather than the UK.
And who could blame them? They have expended way more hours bringing this fight to reality than on their most recent fights. Namely AJ’s circus act with YouTube celebrity Jake Paul in December and Fury’s one-sided pummelling of Russia bear wrestler Arslanbek Makhmudov earlier this month.
After the latter Joshua, who was ringside in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, declined tor respond to Fury’s taunting. Now that both have negotiated their separate financial deals with His Excellency Alalshikh – potentially $20-30million each – the gloves are on.
Joshua says: ‘It’s no secret that I’ve taken some time to rebuild (following not only the loss of his friends but also his KO clobbering by Daniel Dubois) I’m ready to step back into the ring. I look forward to picking up where I left off.’
Fury says: ‘Ours is the biggest fight in world boxing at the moment. In fact the only fight I’ve been interested in since I made my (fifth!) comeback.’
When Joshua and Fury do meet in the ring, Daily Mail Sport can exclusively reveal that Alalshikh is hopeful of having music superstar Dua Lipa in attendance and performing too. He is a big fan of the Brit’s music and admires her rise to stardom.
Turki Alalshikh (left) is a big fan of British music superstar Dua Lipa and hopes she attends and performs at the Fury-Joshua fight
After beating Arslanbek Makhmudov earlier this month, Fury called out Joshua to fight him
Joshua survived a car crash at the end of last year which claimed the lives of his friends
As for the third man in this trilogy, Prenga has only one defeat on his record and has knocked out all his 20 victims. He says: ‘Joshua is a great fighter but he has made a terrible miscalculation in picking me as his opponent.’
If so then Fury, who repeatedly warned Joshua not to risk an interim fight before they meet, will be infuriated.
