By Norm Frauenheim-
Tyson Fury is in Las Vegas this week, but is he tuning up his vocal chords or his jab?
It’s hard to know, given the ongoing talk about the when and where surrounding a fight with Anthony Joshua for the undisputed heavyweight title.
Daily headlines have become a tease, a rhetorical fan dance promising something big, very big, yet delivering little, very little.
Maybe, this is the week. At least, that’s what Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn promised a few days ago. Hearn talked about the end of week, which presumably would mean now.
But timetables are like glass jaws. They are there to be broken, especially in a business often ruled by Fury-co-promoter Bob Arum’s old comment: “Yesterday I was lying, today I’m telling the truth.” A line to set your clock by, if there ever was one.
So, if Friday and Saturday pass without something specific about the when and where of Fury-Joshua, the dance goes on. By now, just about everywhere has been mentioned. Saudi Arabia, the United States, China, Qatar, Singapore, Dubai and the UK have all been teased by Hearn.
“Both sides have approved the site offer that they want to go with, and now we’re just finalizing the site deal and we’re in a great place,’’ Hearn told Behind The Gloves after reportedly speaking Tuesday with Fury after he arrived in Vegas to begin training.
Yet, Hearn’s comment was notable for what it still lacked. No place, no date. Speculation has the fight going to Saudi Arabia. Speculation has it happening on July 24. But more speculation only spawns more skepticism
Last Tuesday appeared to be leverage, a drop-dead date. That’s the day Fury said he needed to know something specific about what would be the first in a two-fight deal.
“We have to go to Monday, Tuesday by the latest,’’ Fury said, also to Behind The Gloves, last weekend. “If I don’t know anything by Tuesday, I’m just going to move on, because it’s been a long time in the making.’’
More to the point, it’s been a long time since Fury has fought. Nearly 14 months have come and gone since he stopped Deontay Wilder. If the idle time hasn’t left rust, it has created an impatience in Fury, whose earning potential is at its peak. He’s 32.
Fury’s father says it’s time, past-time, for his son to fight. If not a summer-date against Joshua, John Fury suggested a tune-up for the heavyweight champ who likes to sing before and after bouts. Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie, he sang to the media during a post-fight news conference after he fought Wilder to a draw in their 2018 fight.
“We will fight anyway, with or without AJ (Joshua),” John Fury told Sky Sports. “We have made this quite clear.’’
Only a place and date could make it any clearer.
