British-Nigerian boxer Anthony Joshua has said he is ready to welcome Tyson Fury into the ring for their first-ever face-off, provided he gets past Kristian Prenga first, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Fury ended sixteen months of retirement in April when he defeated Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham, with Joshua watching ringside. However, Joshua refused to take part in a staged stare-down that night, insisting the grudge match between the pair had not yet been signed.
Joshua has since put pen to paper on his own deal ahead of his July 25 comeback bout in Jeddah against Albanian fighter Prenga, who carries a record of 20-1.
Fury, for his part, fights one night earlier in a tune-up contest against forty-six-year-old Pole Mariusz Wach in Thailand, and is expected to make the 4,000-mile trip afterwards to watch Joshua in action, effectively kicking off their long-awaited Battle of Britain.
“If he wants to come in the ring when I win July 25th, feel welcome. Come into my territory. I am the landlord. I am going to welcome you into my home. You do not welcome me into your home,” Joshua told DAZN.
“I have been in that position before where I have signed contracts with Fury, so I did not play into the games. I was there on a scouting mission. I wanted to see what my future opponent was going to look like, and I saw a lot. I saw some good, I saw some vulnerabilities in there.”
Joshua, aged 36, and Fury, aged 37, are yet to agree a date or venue for their overdue domestic showdown, with Las Vegas and New York having emerged as outside alternatives to a fight staged in the United Kingdom. Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh, who is funding the bout, remains open to hosting it in the kingdom, though only at a later start time to accommodate American viewers, who would otherwise face a 2am ringwalk. London currently lacks the necessary licensing for a fight of that magnitude, while Cardiff’s Principality Stadium does not.
