Jordan lifts lid on ‘three-fight Saudi deal’ involving AJ and Fury

Simon Jordan says he has had heard rumours that Saudi Arabia are planning to a stage a three-fight tournament involving Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder. The idea is that Fury vs Usyk and Joshua vs Wilder take place in December, with the winners set to meet further down the line in a battle for heavyweight supremacy.

Joshua was expected to return to the ring in the summer but in a shocking twist, the Watford powerhouse revealed he would instead be boxing in December. “My next fight is scheduled for December,” Joshua told his 15.2million followers on Instagram earlier this week. “Not ideal but everything is part of a bigger picture.”

Jordan says he has heard that Joshua’s next fight will be against Wilder over in the middle east at the same time that Usyk and Fury square off for their long-awaited four-belt shoot-out. Both parties were unable to thrash out a deal for April after a disagreement over the purse split for the rematch.

But if what Jordan is hearing proves to be true then a new undisputed champion could be crowned before the end of the year.

Jordan said on the talkSPORT talkBOXING show: “I wanted to talk about the landscape of what is likely to be happening in the heavyweight division. Because there’s a lot of things going around…

“There’s a lingering observation and, I suppose rumour, that’s seeded I think in some substance – that there is a series of fights being arranged in the Middle East that involve Fury, Usyk, Joshua and Wilder.

“Three fights being made which is Fury vs Usyk, Wilder vs Joshua and the two winners of those fights meeting again in the Middle East for the ultimate showdown. That would align with the dynamic of the reasons why Anthony Joshua isn’t fighting until December.”

Of course, before this supposed tournament takes place, Usyk would have to face WBA mandatory Daniel Dubois first. The major sanctioning body has already ordered the contest which is set to go to a purse bid in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum has also suggested that the Mancunian may face Andy Ruiz Jr in the summer.