British heavyweight rivals Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are on course to meet in a long-awaited bout in November, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.

Hearn on Tuesday said he was “pretty sure” the pair will finally meet later this year.

Fury made his latest comeback following 16 months in retirement when he defeated Arslanbek Makhmudov on points on Saturday.

Following that bout, Netflix announced on social media that the richest fight in British boxing history had been agreed between Fury and Joshua.

Hearn said the streaming service jumped the gun but he is confident the fight will happen.

Joshua first needs to get back in the ring for a warm-up fight after his victory over YouTube star Jake Paul in December in his only appearance in 19 months.

“We received the contracts at the end of last week for their proposal of the two fights and we’ve been going back and forward and we continue to do that,” Hearn said.

“My instructions from AJ are to make the fight and that’s what we’ll be trying to do. I wouldn’t really say there are sticking points, but obviously when you receive a contract it’s very natural to go back with a lot of stuff.

“It’s nothing major, a little bit about who he fights in July, when he fights, where the fight’s going to be.

“Fury was trying to palm it off that we’ve had our warm-up fight against Jake Paul, which I thought was a bit cheeky, but I expect us to fight someone of the same kind of level as Makhmudov and then fight Fury.

“The deal that we’ve been offered is not to fight Tyson Fury straight away, and that’s our preferred option. We’re happy with that and we expect to be out in July and then fight Fury in November.”

Joshua was involved in a car crash in Nigeria in December that killed two of his close friends.

In the next fortnight he is expected to be given the all-clear by medics to resume full training after sustaining injuries in the accident.

The 36-year-old has been spending time working on his conditioning in Ukraine with WBC, WBA and IBF champion Oleksandr Usyk.

Published on Apr 15, 2026