Fury (35-2-1, 24 KOs) on Thursday declared he was the division's money man, and after emerging unscathed with a lopsided decision win over Arslanbek Makhmudov he openly called for Anthony Joshua to finally fight him next.

Midway through the night's action, Turki Alalshikh, head of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority and owner of The Ring, hinted an imminent announcement following the main event.

"Today we have a big surprise. I hope that we are going to announce the biggest fight in the history of England."

While the execution was far from faultless, there was no doubting the intent. During the post-fight presser, Fury's manager Spencer Brown stressed his confidence they would broker a deal sometime this year and said September would be the "perfect" month before pointing towards waiting for Joshua, claiming Fury had already signed.

Joshua (29-4, 25 KOs) has often doubled down on making the all-British grudge match happen, being proactive having publicly called Fury out at last year's Ring awards and after knocking out Jake Paul on Dec. 19.

Some reports suggest Wembley Stadium is the frontrunner for a spectacle of this magnitude, with two former British world champions finally meeting after years of jawing outside it as sworn rivals.

Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, spoke of being in "active negotiations" to broker the fight sometime this year but wanted an interim bout first. He told reporters in New York this past week Deontay Wilder (45-4-1, 43 KOs) was an option after his grueling split decision over retiring Derek Chisora last weekend.

They believe a deal could be agreed to after original plans for each to have a warm-up fight were iced after Joshua was injured in a car accident in Nigeria, tragically killing two of his close friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele.

The 37-year-old returned to training recently, embracing some newfound camaraderie with Ring and unified champion Oleksandr Usyk, who outpointed him to claim the throne in 2021 and won the rematch 12 months later.

Dublin's 80,000-seat stadium Croke Park has also been discussed as a potential landing spot. It's where retiring two-weight undisputed world champion Katie Taylor (25-1, 6 KOs) wants to end her illustrious career, and the stadium's chief executive Peter McKenna told BBC Sport they're hopeful it can be made.

"The real hope is that we will get Fury here later in the year, such a world-billing event that we would be able to facilitate a Katie Taylor fight here. A lot of stars need to align," he said before highlighting the obvious about management and promoters needing to agree to terms. If that is the case, Joshua wouldn't have an interim bout.

On the Netflix broadcast, he told Anna Woolhouse: "I'm going to be completely honest. There's a negotiation to go through. I've sat at this table many times, not here to chase clout. Contracts will be sent over and I'll more than likely be in the ring with him next.

"He's the one that retired. I've been in the game for 13 years, never retired. I make the big fights, that's what I said to him. He works for me. That could be a warm-up fight after what I saw tonight.

"I'm not ducking no one. I know what my job is. There's just real things going on in my life. I run the game, I'm a serious fighter and very strong as well. When I hit Fury I'm gonna hurt him bad. I have to [take a minute and do what's best for me]. I'm sorting some things out for my brothers and their family.

"I've been here a million times with him before. If I'm honest with you right now, until we're in the ring there is no fight with him. I've been here three or four times before with Wilder and Fury."

Sure, he blitzed Paul after a 15-month layoff in their lucrative mismatch four months ago, but Joshua hasn't boxed a world-ranked heavyweight since a damaging fifth-round stoppage defeat by Daniel Dubois in September 2024.

Should the former two-time unified heavyweight champion decide to take a warm-up fight prior as Matchroom has maintained is its wish, the event would be targeted for year's end and presumably on British shores.

Talks have persistently broken down previously, whether through extortionate fight purse demands, broadcaster disputes, boxing politics or even a Wilder-shaped arbitration case that went to court in 2020. However in the last three years, several must-see fights have finally come to fruition and this one edges closer to a conclusion.