Former two division world champion Ricky Hatton fears that Tyson Fury’s potential unification showdown with Anthony Joshua could be “doomed” due to numerous delays.
Fury and Joshua appeared to be on the path of a unification fight on a date in August in Saudi Arabia.
However, an arbitrator ordered Fury to honor a rematch clause due to Deontay Wilder.
Their fight was scheduled for July 24th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Another delay came into play, with Fury coming down with COVID-19 – and now the Fury-Wilder trilogy fight has been pushed back until October 9th.
Joshua is scheduled to defend his titles against mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk on September 25.
At the earliest, a Fury-Joshua unification would take place in the first half of 2022.
“What puts a further damper on it for me is the fight we all want, Fury vs Anthony Joshua, now seems further away than ever,” Hatton told metro.co.uk.
“What happens now? It all just pushes the fight further back. As a fight fan, you fear the worst, the biggest fight in British boxing history, is it actually going to happen? It just seems we are doomed. Tyson’s problems in the past with his depression, his mental health and battles with drink and drugs have been well documented in the past.
“I remember Tyson saying to me ages ago: ‘I want a couple of warm-up fights then I want to beat Wilder. Then immediately after that, I want to fight AJ. And then I’m done.’ Anthony Joshua is younger, he has less miles on the clock, he is an athlete 24-7. I know Tyson is an athlete 24-7 now but the damage he might have done to his body years back. Tyson wants to get in, get out and prove he is the best fighter in the world. And the more it goes on, the more I worry that Tyson might just go: ‘F— it’.
“When you think about it, Tyson had two comeback fights, he went straight in against Wilder and went straight in for the rematch. He wants to get his career and his legacy done and dusted. Whereas for AJ, the younger, fresher of the two, it doesn’t matter as much if this drags out another two or three years. It does for Tyson. The longer this drags out the better this is for AJ.”