Joshua, Fury bout may still happen

Nigeria born former heavyweight champion of the world Anthony Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn has warned the failed talks for Joshua to fight Tyson Fury could still pave the way for a deal to one day get done.

The pair of heavyweight rivals were in talks for a shock December 3 Battle of Britain in Cardiff.

But opposing promoters could not get a deal done in time, with Fury instead moving on to a trilogy bout with Derek Chisora.

Hearn led the negotiations with Frank Warren's son George, laying the foundation for future business.

He told SecondsOut in Abu Dhabi: “AJ will be here this week to finalise his next move, and I don’t rule out the fight for the future.

"All those conversations were between George Warren and myself, and later on particularly George Warren and Frank Smith.

“There’s an open line of communication. I think it’s really positive for the future for fights to get made.

"So in that respect, great. Obviously, we didn’t get the big one over the line, but certainly, it opens the door for better communication lines."

Joshua, 33, is taking time out to mentally recover from his back-to-back points losses to Oleksandr Usyk, 35.

Meanwhile Fury, 34, moved on from talks with AJ to instead rematch Derek Chisora, 38, again despite his prior 2011 and 2014 wins.

It is a fight the Gypsy King faced criticism for due to the one-sided nature of earlier wins.

Hearn said: “It was difficult because Derek's my mate, and I’ve promoted his shows, so I didn’t want to criticise him.

“I will say if they hadn’t boxed previously, it wouldn’t be the worst pick in the world.

"It’s a much better pick than Manuel Charr, who they wanted to fight, but they were negotiating with Derek Chisora right back when they were negotiating with AJ.

“That fight took eight weeks to close. So it took a long time to get there.

"I was pleased that Derek got the opportunity. I understand there’s no demand to see the fight.

“I know Derek will give it his best, and I’m sure it’ll be entertaining."