Fury v Joshua: Promoter Eddie Hearn says fight could be agreed by text message

Promoter Eddie Hearn is confident Tyson Fury v Anthony Joshua could still happen, and says all it takes is a direct message on social media between the fighters.

Fury, 36, retired from boxing a few weeks after a second successive loss to WBA (Super), WBC and WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in December.

Joshua, 35, has been out of the ring since September’s defeat by IBF title-holder Daniel Dubois.

“This is the kind of fight that probably gets made over a DM between the two or a text or a call,” Hearn, who represents Joshua, told BBC Sport.

“It’s like ‘look, do you fancy it?’ That’s it. And then, bang, it’s done.”

Joshua, like Fury, is a two-time heavyweight world champion. A super-fight between two generational stars of British boxing has been mooted for several years but always stalled during negotiations.

“Neither of them are champions. Both are huge names, both at the back ends of their careers, but more importantly both are still relatively in their prime,” Hearn said.

“Before AJ lost to Dubois, everyone said this is the best AJ we’ve ever seen. And Fury never really showed any signs of decline against Usyk. He just got beat by the pound-for-pound number one.”