Bob Arum remains supremely confident of having full reign of the heavyweight division the moment boxing returns at full strength.
The Hall of Fame promoter’s Top Rank outfit represents two-time and reigning lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21KOs), who cemented his place atop the division following a 7th round knockout of Deontay Wilder (42-1-1, 41KOs) in their celebrated rematch this past February. Also under the promotional banner is former title challenger and current top-rated contender Kubrat Pulev (28-1, 14KOs), who is due to challenge two-time and current unified heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21KOs).
With both Fury and Joshua hailing from England and owning all of the relevant hardware between them, there has come a demand for a straightaway clash between the two.
Arum is on board with an undisputed heavyweight championship, though his vision isn’t quite the same.
“The fight I’m looking forward to is Fury versus Pulev, once Pulev knocks Joshua out,” the promoter insisted to Top Rank’s Crystina Poncher in an interview as part of the Catching Up With Crystina series on Top Rank’s YouTube channel.
There was a time when the pair of British behemoths were due to defend their hardware roughly one-month part. Manchester’s Fury was originally slated to enter a third fight with Wilder on July 18 in Las Vegas, which would have come four weeks after the previous June 20 working date for Joshua—who hails from Watford—to retun to the UK for the first time in nearly two years in a mandatory defense versus Pulev.
The ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has postponed plans for both of those events, with some factions of the sport now clamoring for Wilder and Pulev, respectively, to step aside to allow for a Fury-Joshua showdown.
Arum is fine with present plans in place, no matter when the two fights are able to take place. It will still result in the same scenario as far as the 88-year old promoter is concerned.
“I’m not counting on Joshua for Fury,” insists Arum. “Because once Pulev gets finished with him, there won’t be an Anthony Joshua.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox