After Fury’s loss to Usyk and Joshua’s defeat by Dubois, the distant rivals could finally square off. Eddie Hearn has admitted it is not “time to start prodding” Tyson Fury over a potential fight with Anthony Joshua.

In December, Fury was outpointed by Oleksandr Usyk for the second time in seven months, as the “Gypsy King” failed to take the unified heavyweight titles from the Ukrainian.

That result came three months after Joshua suffered a brutal knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in an IBF title bout, leaving “AJ” and Fury empty handed.

While Joshua, 35, versus Fury, 36, is not the fight it once was, the Britons may be on a collision course again, and Hearn was asked about the contest on Monday (6 January).

“It’s literally the fight that every casual fan in the UK wants,” Hearn told The Stomping Ground. “It’s the biggest fight in boxing commercially, and when people say it’s not… Tell me a bigger fight; there isn’t one.

“I don’t know if it’s gonna happen, there’s been no discussions. Fury’s just coming off that defeat, and at some point after his break, he’s gonna turn around and decide what he wants to do. If he wants to fight AJ, the fight happens immediately. We’ll see.

“I don’t think it’s the time to start prodding Tyson Fury. Don’t forget, he lost on 21 December, so give him a few weeks [to] chill out.

“Obviously you’ve got Dubois fighting [Joseph] Parker on 22 February, but sooner or later in the coming weeks, we will want to put a plan together for Anthony Joshua.

“That is when the conversation will come with Frank Warren [Fury’s promoter], Spencer Brown [Fury’s manager] and His Excellency [Saudi adviser Turki Al-Sheikh]. And we’ll say: ‘Look, we want to make AJ-Fury, what do you think?’

Dubois was stopped by Usyk in 2023, though there was controversy when the Briton dropped the southpaw with a punch that was ruled a low blow. Dubois later insisted the shot had been legal, but his appeal against his defeat was dismissed.