Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight could still happen | 'That's all about timing,' says promoter Frank Warren
Tyson Fury is coming back to boxing in April after a year in retirement and there are now indications that Anthony Joshua could look to return to training after a tragic car accident; Fury and AJ could eventually box each other; "That's all about timing," says promoter Frank Warren
Friday 20 February 2026 18:08, UK
There was a plan for Tyson Fury to fight Anthony Joshua later this year after both had warm-up bouts first.
That of course was shelved after Joshua was involved in a tragic car accident in Nigeria in December. Two of Joshua's close friends and members of his team died in the incident and Joshua himself was hospitalised.
Joshua, who is grieving for Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, has to recover physically.
But there are indications he is readying to return to training. A potential comeback bout in the summer could put AJ on course for an eventual contest with Fury.
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"That was the intention," Frank Warren said of the possible Fury vs Joshua fight. "Obviously the dreadful thing, with that tragic car crash, AJ lost two of his good friends, part of his team, I don't know what he's going to do."
"That [fight] would sell out anywhere," Fury's promoter Warren told Sky Sports. "That's all about timing. AJ, if he does fight on, will he want a comeback fight and so forth? It's all about timing and basically see what happens and see where it all goes."
Warren will leave that decision to Joshua and his team. He will not make an approach himself.
"The only person who's going to determine whether he wishes to fight on is himself," he said. "I don't know if he wants to do it. He's a very wealthy guy. He may do, he may not, who knows? But that was what the intention was."
Similarly Warren did not encourage Fury to make a comeback. "From my perspective I never did that with Tyson. I left him to make his own mind up and pick when he wanted to do it," he said. "I always felt that he would do because that's what he is, he's a fighting man.
"For me if you're going to retire four or five years then come back, your powers are going to diminish in that period of time. So if you're going to fight, fight when you're at the best that you can be and the best he can be is where he's at right now."
Fury, though, will not follow Joshua's lead and box influencer-turned-fighter Jake Paul, who managed to last six rounds with AJ in December.
"Tyson has categorically said he doesn't want to fight anything like that," he said. "That's not something that's on his agenda."
Fury will come back from a year in retirement when he fights Arslanbek Makhmudov on April 11 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
If he wins, as expected, Fury will have options afterwards. An eventual fight with Joshua cannot be ruled out. The winner of the Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois WBO world heavyweight title fight would be an appealing option and Fury would also like a trilogy bout with unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.
"Tyson, he's not going to sit around," Warren said. "He has this fight and he'll want to be out again. He wants to be busy.
"All these fights are great fights to make. They're all unbelievable good quality fights. The heavyweight division's so lively as I keep saying at the moment. There's some fabulous match-ups there, and lots of Brits involved."
