Boxing
Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury could be ruined again
Published
3 months agoon
Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury shouldn’t need another lesson from boxing’s recent past, but the same warning signs are already showing up again.
Eddie Hearn told reporters, including World Boxing News, that Anthony Joshua could fight in July and then attack Tyson Fury in November, rather than going straight to the type of immediate fight that many fans would prefer.
On the surface, the idea is understandable. Joshua hasn’t had much time in the ring since he went just a few rounds with Jake Paul in December, and what followed behind the ropes was unimaginable personal heartbreak when he lost two close friends in a car crash in Nigeria.
The comeback against Fury is quite simple to understand.
What’s harder to justify is why boxing drifts toward the same unnecessary risks whenever a major event is waiting to happen.
Joshua can take absolutely zero risks. He learned this the strenuous way in his match against Daniel Dubois, when he was one step away from another world title fight, and this reality should come up in every conversation.
If the plan is to keep the pot tight with one more run before Fury, your opponent needs to be as close to a guaranteed win as matchmaking can get.
Everything else begins to resemble the kind of thinking that has already ruined one blockbuster and helped turn another into a cautionary tale.
Boxing keeps finding up-to-date ways to ruin the easiest fights.
The history of the warm-up
WBN has covered this issue from every angle because it keeps coming back. When it came to Garcia vs. Haney 2 and Wilder vs. Joshua in the warm-up limbo, it was quite elementary: ready-made, great fights do not require additional obstacles to be placed in front of them.
Sport continues to act as if waiting times need to be extended, when in fact all it is doing is opening the door to disaster.
The same warning applied when the Fury-Joshua idea came up again, and the plan was rightly described as the unfathomable Groundhog Day of Reckoning.
Boxing had already experienced the consequences of this plan once and still seemed willing to undo it as if he had learned nothing.
The Day of Reckoning strategy was to secure a fight between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder after both men had separate fights on the same card. Instead, Wilder lost to Joseph Parker, Joshua defeated Otto Wallin, and the fight everyone had been waiting for for years disappeared in one evening.
It wasn’t bad luck. This was a direct result of warming up for a sedate fight that should have taken place immediately.
Even when Wilder’s subsequent plans carried similar Day of Reckoning risks, the same conclusion remained obvious. An earlier fight is only legitimate if it is truly strategic, tightly controlled and built around preserving the main event rather than gambling.
If Hearn and Joshua’s entourage think he really needs one more performance ahead of Fury, then fine. At least there’s a reason for it, given his confined activities and everything else he’s been up to since December.
But if that’s the case, it can’t be sold as routine. It must be true.
Joshua doesn’t need a test. He doesn’t need a risky name to get off the ground, and he certainly doesn’t need a fight with enough intrigue to fail.
He needs what Deontay Wilder could never provide himself when Turki Alalshikh’s crazy plan for the Joshua vs. Wilder in 2023 required both men to go through danger before earning the mega-bucks.
The Wilder side of the equation turned out to be against Parker and the whole thing went south.
Just do Fury
That’s why the alternative still seems the simplest and smartest of all: let Tyson Fury be the test.
Fury is now thirty-seven years elderly and did not look his best in his last match against Arslanbek Makhmudov. If Joshua wants the right challenge, one with the most reward and the least wasted movement, Fury is staring him in the face.
There is another obvious issue that should not be ignored. Whatever happens in the first Joshua-Fury fight, a rematch is all but guaranteed, meaning Joshua will remain vigorous either way.
This alone makes the case for a separate warm-up even thinner.
And herein lies the frustration of anyone who has watched boxing repeat this cycle over the years.
Fans aren’t asking you to build an impossible fight from scratch. They are asking for one of the easiest major events in sports to organize. Joshua vs. Fury has history, rivalry, commercial value, British relevance and global curiosity.
This is not a fight that needs to be wrapped in cotton wool. It doesn’t require marinating with more side roads and extra calculations.
You have to sign it.
If Joshua really needs a confidence builder, make him the safest one imaginable and move on. But if there is any appetite to turn this interim fight into something more threatening, boxing is once again creating exactly the kind of nightmare that has already cost the sport too much.
There can’t be another breakdown where a routine training session turns into a disaster, the plan falls apart in front of everyone, and the fans are once again dissatisfied for reasons that were obvious from the beginning.
Boxing has seen this story too many times. There’s no need to pretend that the ending is still a secret.
Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.
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Boxing
Shakur Stevenson Forecasts Epic Showdown: Oscar De La Hoya vs Gervonta Tank Davis in Boxing News
Published
3 hours agoon
July 13, 2026
Shakur Stevenson has been linked to a showdown with Gervonta Davis throughout his career but now the Newark southpaw has predicted how his rival would fare against one of the greats of the sport in Oscar De La Hoya.
Stevenson and Davis each held world titles in the lightweight division as recently as February, but Stevenson was then stripped of his WBC crown due to unpaid sanctioning fees and ‘Tank’ was recently demoted to the WBA’s ‘champion-in-recess’ because of prolonged inactivity.
Any hope of seeing the fight is now beginning to dwindle, with Stevenson having signed with Zuffa Boxingwhilst Davis is expected to remain sidelined until early 2027, meaning if the pair are to ever fight, it is unlikely to be anytime soon.
Despite that, Stevenson still clearly holds his rival in high regard, as when discussing hypothetical encounters in an interview with Daily Mail Sporthe picked the Baltimore-born knockout artist to trump a prime De La Hoya, who is one of just two fighters in boxing history to have ruled in six divisions.
De La Hoya fought as a lightweight for just over a year-and-a-half and is better known for his reign as welterweight champion, where he overcame the likes of Pernell Whittaker, Héctor Camacho and Julio César Chávez.
Although, whilst Stevenson also picked Davis to overcome stars such as Vasyl Lomachenko and ‘Sugar’ Shane Mosley, he felt as though a meeting with pound-for-pound sensation Terence Crawford would prove to be a step too far for the undefeated three-division conqueror.
Boxing
Is Oleksandr Usyk Trading Heavyweight Glory for Lucrative Paydays?
Published
7 hours agoon
July 13, 2026

Bradley believes Usyk’s difficult night against Verhoeven played a major role in that decision.
“I think that the Rico Verhoeven fight was an eye-opener for him to be honest with you. He struggled with him, right, but then he was able to pull it off at the end,” said Bradley on the Inside Ring Show.
“Relinquishing the titles, for me, you see the white smoke. He is done. He has left the sport of boxing. He is going to fight [again]but he has left the sport of boxing. He is in the business of boxing now.”
Rather than suggesting Usyk is retiring immediately, Bradley’s point was that the 39-year-old has shifted his focus away from defending championships and toward maximizing the final stage of his career with the biggest available fights.
Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs) vacated three of the four major heavyweight belts after stopping Verhoeven in the 11th round in Riyadh, leaving the heavyweight division to crown new champions and mandatory challengers. He retained only the WBO title.
Although Usyk has repeatedly stated he intends to have one more fight before retiring, Bradley believes the days of chasing undisputed status are over. Instead, he expects the Ukrainian’s remaining bout to be driven by business rather than legacy, with speculation continuing over a potential showdown against former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.
Some fans will argue that Usyk has absolutely nothing left to prove after cleaning out both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. But for others, tossing away three world titles is a blatant sign that he wants no part of the division’s top contenders and is simply looking to cash out with one final massive payday before hanging up the gloves.
Boxing
McGirt: Callum Smiths Style Perfectly Suited to Defeat Dmitry Bivol
Published
8 hours agoon
July 13, 2026
Hall of Fame trainer Buddy McGirt believes Callum Smith has both the style and physical tools to defeat undisputed light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol if the WBO-ordered title fight is finalized.
The WBO ordered Bivol and interim champion Smith to begin negotiations for a mandatory title defense this week. McGirt, who has trained Smith for the past five fights, said he expects his fighter to rise to the occasion against one of boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighters.

“Callum will rise to the occasion for this fight against Bivol, without a doubt,” McGirt told The Ring. “Callum will beat Bivol with what he’s capable of. Bivol can fight, but it’s what Callum can do… he’s long, rangy and can catch Bivol when he’s bouncing in and out. Callum just has to be ready to fire.”
McGirt also believes Bivol’s performances are often dictated by the level of opposition he faces.
“Bivol fights to the capacity of his opponent,” McGirt said. “If his opponent’s good, you’re gonna get the best. If the opponent is mediocre, you’re going to get a mediocre performance. Bivol does just enough to win against mediocre guys. When the opponent is a star, he rises to the occasion.”
Smith (31-2, 22 KOs) has not fought since defeating Joshua Buatsi in February 2025 to capture the WBO interim light heavyweight title. He was scheduled to face David Morrell in April but withdrew because of an injury.
Bivol (25-1, 12 KOs) returned from back surgery in May with a one-sided 12-round decision victory over IBF mandatory challenger Michael Eifert. The win followed his split series with Artur Beterbiev, with each fighter earning a majority decision victory in their two championship bouts.
Asked what Smith’s strategy would be against Bivol, McGirt declined to reveal any details.
“It’s an ancient Chinese secret,” McGirt said with a laugh.
Michael Collins is a senior writer at Boxing247.com (East Side Boxing) and has covered world championship boxing since 2012. Respected for his measured reporting and technical insight, he delivers expert analysis on elite fighters, contenders, and the evolving global fight landscape.
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