Eddie Hearn says the road is clear for the long-awaited dream match between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury – provided the Gypsy King wants it. Both British boxing legends have suffered painful title defeats. Joshua was knocked out by Daniel Dubious at Wembley and Fury lost his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia last month.

These defeats have naturally dampened some fans’ enthusiasm for a Joshua-Fury fight, although it would still be an appetizing and lucrative prospect even without the belts on the line. Joshua has made it clear he wants this fight, while Fury considers his future after his second defeat to Usyk.

If the 36-year-old Gypsy King decides to extend his career, Joshua’s promoter Hearn insists the fight could happen “immediately”. Matchroom boss said A place of stomping on YouTube: “This is the fight everyone wants. Tell me about the bigger fight? There is not one.

“I don’t know if it will happen. There were no discussions. Fury is recovering from this defeat and will decide what he wants to do after the break. If he wants to fight AJ, the fight happens immediately. We’ll see.”

Hearn says it is too early to put pressure on Fury and his team. He said: “I don’t think this is the time to start poking Tyson Fury. Don’t forget he lost on December 21st, so give him a few weeks to relax.

“Sooner or later, in the coming weeks, we will want to develop a plan for Anthony Joshua. That’s when the conversation with Frank Warren will happen [Fury’s promoter]Spencer Brown [Fury’s manager] and His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] and say, “We want to create AJ-Fury – what do you think?” We’ll go from there.”

Warren will also not put any pressure on Fury. He writes recently in his Daily Star columnthe Queensbury boss said: “I will not pick up the phone and ask Tyson Fury to fight again.

“If there is an opportunity for him, it will be passed on. But I won’t give you any advice on whether Tyson should take it. I haven’t talked to him yet about fighting Anthony Joshua and I will only do so if he comes to me and says he wants to get in the ring with him.

“My only hope is for Tyson to be cheerful and content with his life. If that happens, I will be more proud than you can imagine. If he decides to box again, I will support him 100%. This is a decision for me. him, his wife Paris and their family.”

Jai Opetaia returned to his homeland and emphatically defended his IBF cruiserweight title by defeating David Nyika in the fourth round at the Gold Coast Convention Center in Queensland.

Opetaia (27-0, 21 KO) entered this fight on the back of a string of wins and in his second stint as IBF champion, this time defending a systematic sixth-round stoppage of Jack Massey in October. Nyika (10-1, 9 KO) had a decorated amateur career, including an Olympic bronze medal and two Commonwealth gold medals, and progressed quickly as a professional with seven straight early wins.

Both fighters launched an attack and in an explosive second round, Opetaia landed a huge left hand that caught the Up-to-date Zealander off guard, but the challenger responded with a left hook of his own that the home favorite seemed to sense.

The 29-year-old quickly shook off this fear and began to take control, and the conclusions did not take long to come.

A right hand hit Nyika difficult and although he got the count down, he was tentative and the combination on the restart left him cool and the fight was over.

Opetaia will now likely seek to unify with the WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion, Gilberto Ramirez.

Huni knocks out Potgeiter

On the card below, Justis Huni further strengthened his credentials by defending his IBF Pan Pacific and WBO Global heavyweight titles by defeating Shaun Potgieter in the second round.

Huni (12-0, 7 KO) launched an attack that sent Potgieter (10-2, 7 KO) retreating to the corner and then releasing both arms before the referee made a wise intervention.

Undercard remaining

Max McIntyre (7-0, 6 KO) won the vacant IBF Youth super middleweight title, stopping Abdulselam Saman (8-2, 1 KO) three times in the fourth round before recording a stoppage victory in the same session.

Ben Mahoney defended the vacant IBF Pan Pacific super welterweight title by defeating Fan Zhang (8-3-1, 5 KO). Mahoney (15-0-1, 8 KO) won all ten rounds on all three cards.

Highly touted heavyweight Teremoana Jnr (6-0, 6 KO) remained the consummate professional and needed less than a round to defeat Osasu Otobo (11-2-1, 5 KO).

The meeting of the undefeated in the super lightweight category ended with the victory of Shauna Browne (5-0, 3 KO), and the Irishwoman won a split decision over ten rounds against Taylah Gentzen (6-1, 3 KO).

The only fighter in the eighth round was a featherweight, with Tony Ingram (6-1, 3 KO) losing his undefeated record in a points loss to Runqi Zhou. The judges declared Zhou (9-2-1, 3 KO) the winner with two scores of 78-74 and a third score of 77-75.

In four rounds, delicate heavyweight prospect Billy McAllister (3-0, 3 KO) scored another early victory, this time in the second round against Jordan Towns (2-3, 1 KO), and middleweight Kodi Shallali (1-1- 1 ) and Albert Tu’ua (1-1-1) could not be separated in a fight that ended in a majority draw.

In the super featherweight debut fight, Jag Guthmann-Chester (1-0) won against Jai Williams (0-1).

UFC legend Don Frye confessed that he felt like “vomiting” after Jake Paul’s fight with former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Last year, the boxing community was shocked when Tyson announced his plans to return to the professional ring.

His last official match before facing Paul was in 2005, where he lost to former Irish boxer Kevin McBride. However, he participated in an exhibition fight against Roy Jones Jr in 2020.

Many were concerned about Tyson’s health before the fight, but the boxing icon shared several clips of his preparations for the fight, sparking a worldwide discussion and making fans believe that he can turn back time. Unfortunately, his age showed on the night of the fight, and after the second round the 58-year-old had nothing left to offer.

Despite failing to get past the knockout, Paul won a unanimous decision in Texas. After the main event in November, prominent figures from the world of combat sports were quick to criticize the event.

Two months after the controversial showdown, people are still questioning the fight and wondering why it even happened.

In an interview with Gary Goodridge, Frye expressed his disgust for the fight, stating: “I’m telling you, buddy, that (fight) made me want to throw up. I was so disgusted that I had to go home and put on Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Jake Lamotta, Rocky Marciano. I had to watch some real fighters or I would never watch another boxing match again. It was a fraud.

After the fight, Tyson revealed on Twitter that he “almost died” before the fight, saying: “It’s one of those situations where you lost but you still won. I’m grateful for last night. I don’t regret entering the ring for the last time.

“I almost died in June. I had 8 blood transfusions. I lost half my blood and 25 pounds in the hospital and had to fight to get better to fight, so I won. My kids seeing me go head to head and finish 8 innings with a talented fighter half my age in front of a packed Dallas Cowboy Stadium is an experience no man could ever ask for. Thank you.

Tyson has previously mentioned that he had grave health problems on the plane, which led to the postponement of his original fight with Paul last July. He revealed: “I was in the bathroom vomiting blood. I asked the doctor: “Will I die?” He replied: “We have options.” Options? I couldn’t believe it.

“I think I had eight blood transfusions. The doctor said I had lost half of my blood. I almost died. I lost 25 pounds in 11 days. I couldn’t eat. Only fluids. Every time I went to the bathroom it smelled like tar, it didn’t even smell like shit anymore. It was disgusting.

“It threw me off [when I continued training]. All my coordination, stamina, everything was hectic on the way back. I was already at the top. I could fight him that day. Now I have to start from scratch. I just don’t give up. Sometimes I’m an asshole. I am advertising***. If I haven’t outlived my enemies, I’ve turned them into friends.”