Joshua Holds Fury Contract But July Warm-Up Bout Likely Before November Showdown, Says Hearn

Anthony Joshua has the contract for a fight with Tyson Fury sitting on his desk, but the all-British heavyweight contest that fans have waited years to see will almost certainly not arrive until November at the earliest. Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed on Tuesday that Joshua's team received the paperwork last week and are working through it, while simultaneously exploring whether a July bout against Deontay Wilder could serve as the ideal launchpad into a career-defining autumn.

The sequencing matters enormously here. Joshua has not boxed since his points victory over Jake Paul last December, a layoff that was extended by a serious car accident in Nigeria in which his friends Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele tragically lost their lives. Returning straight into the highest-profile heavyweight fight Britain has ever produced, against a Fury who has just banked twelve sharp rounds against Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, was never going to be straightforward. The physical and emotional weight of the past four months has shifted the entire timeline.

Hearn told Sky Sports that Joshua is close to receiving medical clearance to resume full training, which represents genuine progress after weeks of uncertainty. The original plan had Joshua fighting in March before facing Fury in August. Both dates have slipped, but Hearn insists the revised framework of July and November is now the working blueprint and that he expects things to move forward on that basis.

The Wilder Route: Pragmatic or Risky?

The name that keeps surfacing for the July slot is Deontay Wilder, and Hearn did not dismiss the idea. In fact, he went further than that. He confirmed that Joshua's camp has made it clear they are prepared to fight Wilder and Fury in consecutive bouts, treating the two contests as a back-to-back sequence rather than viewing Wilder simply as a routine stepping stone. That framing is significant. It suggests Joshua's team recognise that Wilder, a former WBC heavyweight champion with the most fearsome one-punch knockout power in the division's recent history, carries enough prestige to justify the risk without derailing the bigger prize. Crucially, it also signals that Joshua's camp understand they need a credible name to satisfy a public that has grown sceptical of carefully curated tune-up selections.

Hearn was candid about the potential complications. With a Netflix-backed Fury showdown generating enormous commercial expectation, sending Joshua in against Wilder first introduces a layer of jeopardy that the broadcasters and investors in the November fight would rather avoid. There is a reason Fury's own warm-up against Makhmudov was a carefully managed affair. Hearn acknowledged that those with financial stakes in the Joshua versus Fury contest will probably push for a slightly less dangerous tune-up opponent for AJ, in the same way Fury's recent outing was constructed. The honest assessment is that Wilder, even at this stage of his career, is not a safe warm-up for anyone. His right hand has ended fights with a single punch against opponents who entered the ring in far better form than Joshua would be returning from a lengthy layoff.

Fury's Challenge and Joshua's Silence

The spectacle at Tottenham on Saturday provided Fury with a ready-made stage for theatre. After his points win over Makhmudov, he grabbed the microphone and delivered a direct challenge to Joshua, urging his rival to forget about Wilder or anyone else and commit to fighting him next. Joshua, who was present at the event, declined to give a straight answer, which in itself became the story of the evening.

Reading too much into that reticence would be a mistake. Joshua's camp has very deliberate reasons for not committing publicly to anything while the contract is still being reviewed. Hearn's intervention on Tuesday served as the clearest indication yet that the Fury fight is not merely aspirational but is now a structured negotiation with paperwork in circulation. The fact that Fury is said to have already signed is an additional piece of leverage, though Hearn noted with a degree of pointed diplomacy that he could not personally confirm Fury had done so. That careful qualification is worth registering: until both signatures are on the same document, the fight remains an intention rather than a certainty.

Wilder's Camp Left in the Dark

One dimension of this story that cuts against the momentum of Hearn's confidence is the response from Wilder's side. Deontay Wilder's co-manager Shelly Finkel told Sky Sports that the approach from Joshua's camp came as news to him entirely, saying he would need to speak with Hearn before commenting further. That is not the language of an imminent deal. It suggests that whatever interest Joshua's team has expressed in the Wilder route, it has not yet translated into substantive dialogue on the other side of the table.

That gap between Hearn's public declarations and Finkel's lack of awareness is a familiar feature of heavyweight boxing negotiations. Promoters routinely float names in the press to generate momentum, test public appetite, and apply indirect pressure. Whether Wilder versus Joshua genuinely comes together in July will depend on whether those private conversations happen quickly and whether both sides can agree terms that reflect the commercial weight of what would follow in November. Wilder's own bargaining position improved noticeably after his win over Derek Chisora, meaning he is unlikely to accept a fee that undervalues his threat. A fighter of his standing, with a knockout ratio that still commands genuine respect, has little incentive to take reduced terms simply because a larger fight sits on the horizon for the other camp.

What the Timeline Reveals About Joshua's Situation

The broader picture emerging from Hearn's update is of a camp trying to balance genuine personal tragedy against the commercial imperatives of keeping a multi-million-pound fight opportunity alive. Joshua was originally scheduled to box in March. The car accident in Nigeria pushed that back, and the human cost of that incident cannot be reduced to a scheduling inconvenience. The fact that Joshua is now approaching physical clearance to return to full training is significant precisely because the accident could have delayed things considerably longer.

There is also a tactical argument for the warm-up. Fury has just had twelve competitive rounds inside the ropes. Joshua has had none since December. Even setting aside the accident, ring rust at heavyweight level is a genuine concern, particularly against an opponent as unconventional and experienced as Fury. A July outing would give Joshua the chance to shake off any cobwebs, rebuild timing, and arrive in November with meaningful recent rounds under his belt rather than going in cold against the most awkward heavyweight of his generation. For a fighter whose performances have historically been sensitive to preparation quality and ring sharpness, the value of those rounds should not be underestimated.

Verdict: Two Fights That Could Define British Boxing's 2026

The Joshua versus Fury fight has existed as a tantalising prospect for years, repeatedly delayed by contractual complications, third-party obligations, and shifting priorities on both sides. What is different now is the concrete presence of a signed contract in Joshua's camp, a promoter publicly committing to a November target, and a Fury who has his warm-up rounds banked and appears genuinely focused on making this happen. The machinery is in motion even if the final signature has not yet landed.

The July warm-up question, whether it ends up being Wilder or a less prominent opponent, will shape how Joshua enters the biggest fight of his career. Hearn's preference is clear: he wants AJ to have rounds, to feel sharp, and to arrive at a Fury fight with recent competitive experience. The nervousness in the Netflix and broader promotional camp about Wilder as that warm-up opponent is equally understandable. No one wants to spend months building towards a landmark event only to see it fall apart in a July upset.

If both fights come together as Hearn envisions, British boxing will have its defining autumn. A Joshua versus Wilder contest in July, followed by Joshua versus Fury in November, would represent two of the most commercially significant heavyweight fights staged in a single year. For now, the contract is in hand, the calendar has been outlined, and the next move belongs to Joshua and his team. The question is no longer whether this fight is possible. It is whether all the parties involved can finally stop circling and commit.

Sources: Match information, quotes, and fight details sourced from Sky Sports Boxing coverage published 14 April 2026.