The decade-long struggle to get AJ & Fury together
After all these years, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are still on different pages.
Following Fury's dominant victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it briefly felt like the moment had finally arrived when they might share common ground.
The Gypsy King leaned over the ropes and beckoned Joshua towards him. The rivalry suddenly felt alive again.
Joshua was not playing along with any mind games, though. Fury urged him to venture into the ring; Joshua stayed put. Another example of a subtle power struggle which has defined their history.
Joshua was not going to be hurried, but it seemed as though Team Fury – and the Saudi organisers – expected a different script. Before and immediately after the fight, Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alalshikh, a major power-broker in modern boxing, was speaking as if the fight announcement was imminent.
Netflix, the broadcasters of Saturday night's comeback show, even announced the all-British fight on social media for autumn in the UK, which Fury's promoter Frank Warren quickly shot down.
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Backstage, Fury cut a weary figure and took aim at Joshua with his words.
"He didn't want the smoke," Fury said. "He came ringside to make the fight. If it was me, I'd have jumped in the ring. Ten years in the making and still there's uncertainty if it's going to happen next."
For more than a decade, Fury-Joshua has never got past the hype. In another industry, a project left in development this long might be considered obsolete.
Now, Team Fury say they have signed the contract, and Joshua hasn't. The blame game will continue.
There is a danger this will be yet another missed opportunity. The perfect moment belonged to 2019, or perhaps 2021. Now the question is simply – will the sport allow this entire generation to close without ever seeing them share a ring?
Fury v Joshua fascination refuses to fade
Fury and Joshua remain hugely important to the sport. If Joshua is the beating heart of boxing in the UK, Fury is the blood that surges through the veins.
He said he has a three-fight deal for this year but insisted there is only one fight he wants.
"If it isn't AJ next, I'm not interested in boxing again. It's either him or I'm gone," Fury said.
Their rivalry has been a big factor in the heavyweight landscape for years without ever delivering the fight that British boxing craves.
Both men are past their peak, yet the fascination refuses to fade, partly because there are few genuine alternatives.
Moses Itauma is one of the most exciting young heavyweights in years, while welterweight Conor Benn continues to command headlines wherever he goes. Yet neither man commands the spotlight of Fury or Joshua.
Put Joshua and Fury almost anywhere – their strongholds of Watford or Morecambe, or Wembley Stadium – and it would still outdraw most fights on the planet.
"Let's fight. What's the hold-up?" Fury said.
Should Joshua take another fight first?
There is a case for Joshua taking an interim fight. Fury returned from his fifth retirement with what was effectively a warm-up against Makhmudov, while Joshua has only fought YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in the past 18 months.
That means Joshua could enter a Fury fight having spent long spells away from elite-level opposition, whereas Fury showed that he can still navigate 12 rounds against a dangerous, if limited, puncher.
More importantly, Joshua has also had a traumatic few months outside the ring. A car accident in December, which tragically claimed the lives of two close friends, altered the emotional context around him entirely.
"I was in a serious incident maybe four months ago," Joshua reminded viewers as pressure mounted on him to agree to Fury's demands.
A lower-stakes contest could allow Joshua to rediscover rhythm without the suffocating spotlight that comes with a Fury build-up.
Fury is sympathetic to Joshua's situation. He referenced his mental health struggles and how each fighter will have their own reality to deal with.
"We've all had problems – that's life," Fury said. "Taking interim fights, you can get chinned by anyone."
Fury is not wrong about one thing – the wait can't go on for much longer. The sport has already lived through the cautionary tale of Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao, which shattered records when it finally happened but fell flat.
The Netflix age: Was Fury missed?
Even during his brief hiatus, Fury remained the ghost at every heavyweight feast.
Promoters, broadcasters and rivals all spoke as though he remained in the room.
In north London on Saturday, he was back to his familiarly unpredictable self.
There was an emotional tribute to the late Ricky Hatton, plus moments where Fury appeared to admire his own work mid-fight, and then the other side of his persona – the man who goes on the offensive verbally.
In many ways, boxing missed him and the timing of Fury's return has been deliberate.
Hours after his win, season two of At Home with the Furys lands on Netflix. By tying boxing to a platform of that scale, the sport has regained a level of mainstream exposure it has not enjoyed since the terrestrial boom of the 1990s.
The streaming platform – with its 325 million global subscribers – will release viewing figures soon, but the Makhmudov match-up could prove to have been one of the most-watched boxing fights in years in the UK.
There would be even greater clamour for Fury v Joshua.
Possible venues are already being discussed. Croke Park, with its 80,000-plus capacity, has emerged as a leading contender.
It would be an unusual setting for the biggest fight in British boxing history – a Dublin stage for an English rivalry.
But wherever it takes place, the location now feels almost secondary. The perfect moment may have passed, yet the fascination refuses to disappear.
