JOSHUA REJECTED US MOVE TO KEEP FURY FIGHT IN UK

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are due to fight later this year, having both won warm-up bouts in July. According to Eddie Hearn, Joshua's promoter, organisers proposed moving the contest to the United States and offered Team Joshua "many, many millions more" to stage it there. Hearn said Joshua rejected the offer, insisting the fight take place in the UK. Hearn added that organisers must now either honour the existing contract and hold the fight in Britain, or breach it and cancel the bout.

Fury stopped Mariusz Wach in the seventh round in Thailand, while Joshua recovered from two first-round knockdowns to stop Kristian Prenga in the second round in Saudi Arabia. Wembley Stadium had originally been proposed as the venue, before Madison Square Garden in New York emerged as an alternative, reportedly at the request of Dana White and TKO, the parent company of Zuffa Boxing. Hearn said the original contract stipulates that the fight must take place in the UK. He said the camps had negotiated under what he called "a huge amount of pressure."

Joshua separately recalled sparring with Fury in 2010, at his amateur boxing club, after reading that Fury was offering his Rolex watch to anyone who could knock him out. Speaking in an interview reposted by The Stomping Ground, Joshua said he did not manage the knockout, but that both men "hit each other with some big shots." At the time, Fury was an emerging professional, while Joshua had just won an ABA title as an amateur. Hearn said he expects organisers to confirm the fight will go ahead in the UK. Fans will learn later this year whether Joshua can land the knockout as a professional that eluded him as an amateur.