Former world heavyweight champion David Haye has added his voice to growing calls for a showdown between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, describing it as the most important fight available to either man and one that both need for how they will ultimately be judged in boxing history.
“That’s the biggest fight they could both possibly have. They should be pushing it, they should be pressing it, they have to be,” Haye told Sky Sports. “They both need each other, for their own legacies, different reasons. They both need to say Anthony Joshua was in the same era as Tyson Fury, vice versa, and they battled it out to figure out who won.”
The renewed momentum came after Fury’s victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov on April 11, where he grabbed a microphone and publicly challenged Joshua, who was ringside at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Joshua declined to commit, insisting no agreement had been signed, in a scene Sky Sports described as a quintessential display of the long-running rivalry’s stop-start nature.
Both Fury and Joshua have lost their world titles to Oleksandr Usyk. Fury had been away from boxing for over a year, while Joshua has been returning to training after a car accident in which two of his close friends died. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that a contract for the Fury fight has been received and is currently under discussion.
Haye acknowledged that neither fighter is at their peak but drew comparisons to another long-delayed mega-fight. “They didn’t fight each other in their prime but we got to see it in the end. Just like Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao didn’t fight in their prime. Maybe this is their commercial peak. Maybe they will earn more money now than they would have done when it was first talked about,” he said.
Haye also pointed to Fury’s choice of Makhmudov as a telling sign of intent, noting that the opponent shared Joshua’s physical dimensions and defensive style. “A nice stepping stone to the big one, which is Anthony Joshua. He believes what he still has left is more than enough to beat Anthony Joshua. And that’s a massive fight that the fans want to see,” Haye added.
Talks for the bout are ongoing, with Joshua expected to take a warm-up fight before a potential clash with Fury later in 2026.
