Anthony Joshua says Tyson Fury will be welcome to join him in the ring after his next fight, provided he comes through his own assignment, and Joshua defeats Kristian Prenga in Jeddah.
The long-awaited all-British heavyweight clash appears to be edging closer after both men returned to action.
Fury ended a 16-month retirement in April with a victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov in Tottenham, where Joshua watched from the ringside but declined to take part in a face-off, insisting no deal had been agreed.
Joshua has now signed for his comeback bout against Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga on July 25.
Prenga heads into the contest with a 20-1 professional record, while Fury is scheduled to face veteran Polish boxer Mariusz Wach in Thailand a day earlier.
The expectation is that Fury will travel to Saudi Arabia after his fight to watch Joshua, potentially setting the stage for the first public confrontation between the two rivals ahead of their proposed Battle of Britain.
Joshua also explained why he ignored calls for a face-off during Fury’s last outing.
“I have been in that position before where I have signed contracts with Fury, so I did not play into the games. I was there on a scouting mission. I wanted to see what my future opponent was going to look like, and I saw a lot. I saw some good, I saw some vulnerabilities in there,” he said.
Joshua, 36, and Fury, 37, are still to settle a date and venue for one of British boxing’s biggest potential contests.
Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh remains willing to stage the fight in the kingdom, although a later start time has been proposed to suit the American television audience.
Las Vegas and New York have also emerged as possible venues, while licensing issues continue to cast doubt over staging the fight in London or Cardiff.
The Rivers State House of Assembly has passed the state’s ₦1.8 trillion 2026 Appropriation Bill.
Daily Voice reports that the bill was unanimously passed by 26 lawmakers during the Assembly’s resumed sitting in Port Harcourt.
Once assented to by Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the budget will provide basis for the state government’s expenditure and implementation of programmes and projects.
More to come…
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has widened its lead over the Accord Party in a fresh results update released by the APC Social Media and Situation Room Team during the ongoing Osun State governorship election.
The update, released at 3:40 p.m., showed below.
According to the update, the figures were compiled from 508 polling units so far.
The latest figures put the APC ahead of Accord by 1,320 votes, representing a notable increase from the earlier margin reported by the party’s situation room.
The figures indicate a closely fought contest between the APC and Accord, with the two leading parties separated by just over 1,000 votes based on the results presented.
The APC Situation Room described the figures as “real-time updates”, suggesting that additional results are still expected from other polling units across the state.
However, the figures have not been independently verified and should not be regarded as the official result of the election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) remains responsible for the verification, collation and declaration of the final governorship election results.
With results from only 508 polling units reflected in the latest update, the overall outcome remains uncertain, particularly as more results are expected from across Osun’s local government areas.
The narrowing or widening of the margin in subsequent updates could significantly shape expectations about the eventual winner.
Note: The figures reported above are based solely on the APC Social Media and Situation Room Team’s update shown in the supplied image and remain subject to official verification by INEC.
Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has sued President Bola Tinubu over the alleged forgery of his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate.
In a suit filed at the federal high court in Abuja on Friday, Atiku is seeking Tinubu’s disqualification from the 2027 presidential election.
More to follow…
