Joshua and Fury sign two title unification fight involving a 50: 50 split of the purse

WORLD heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have signed a deal for two all-British world heavyweight title unification fights involving a 50:50 split of the purses  between the two fighters.

Joshua, who currently holds the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Organisation (WBO) and International Boxing Organisation (IBO) titles, is now worth £35m and ranked the fifth richest young sports star in Britain after his earnings soared by £20m over the last two years. He is now planning to take on World Boxing Council (WBC) holder Tyson Fury in a staggering £200m clash after his successful defence of his four belts last night.

Earlier this week, Joshua, 31, and Fury signed a deal for two unification fights, according to Eddie Hearn, Joshua's  promoter. Saudi Arabia, where Joshua won his most recent rematch against Mexican Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019, is the frontrunner to host both fights.

Mr Hearn said: “The hard part is always getting everybody to put pen to paper but this was a major effort from all parties to get this over the line. You had rival promoters, rival networks and rival fighters.”

He added that he already had approaches from eight or nine sites across the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe and America. Joshua and Fury, 32, are expected to earn £100m ($139m) each, with the purse split 50-50 for the first fight and 60-40 for the rematch in favour of the defending champion.

Since avenging a shock defeat to Ruiz, Joshua has defended his WBA, IBF and WBO titles against Kubrat Pulev in London in December. Fury for his part has not fought for more than a year since defeating Deontay Wilder in February 2020 to claim the WBC title.