Tyson Fury warm-up plan before Anthony Joshua clash — Frank Warren

Tyson Fury may take an interim bout before the planned Fury vs Joshua super-fight, as Anthony Joshua warms up on July 25 in Riyadh, Warren says.

Heavyweight boxing’s biggest promise of late 2026 is starting to look more like a carefully managed training cycle than a sudden leap into the spotlight.

Frank Warren says Tyson Fury could take an additional warm-up fight before Anthony Joshua later this year — a move aimed at keeping the Gypsy King sharp while the Joshua side of the schedule is already taking shape.. Warren’s comments come after Fury returned to the ring earlier this month following a year-long retirement, and the timing matters because Joshua’s next date is already locked.

Joshua is set for a warm-up contest on July 25 in Riyadh, with the contest positioned as a chance to “get the cobwebs out” before facing Fury.. Warren framed it as a practical step in Joshua’s build-up, but with a realistic warning: if things go wrong in that July fight, the Fury timeline could face fresh questions.

Warren pointed directly at the potential risk, referring to Joshua’s summer opponent — Kristian Prenga — as a test that Joshua will need to handle properly for the bigger clash to stay on track.. “We’ll have to talk about that afterwards,” Warren said, adding that while the July bout is there to serve a purpose, Joshua still must do his job.. The subtext is clear: even when a fight is labeled a warm-up, heavyweight boxing can punish bad nights.

For Fury, the approach could be similar.. Warren suggested Fury may want his own interim run — “He may decide he wants to do another fight” — and said the reasoning isn’t only physical.. There’s also a mental and lifestyle element to returning after time away, and Warren described the need for structure as part of keeping focus solely on boxing.

If Fury does take a warm-up of his own and Joshua also successfully gets through July, Warren believes the main date can be set afterward.. He indicated the heavyweight super-fight would likely land in October or November, with Joshua’s camp schedule playing a key role in the decision-making.. Joshua, Warren said, will want to return to training soon after July 25, which naturally compresses the possible window.

There’s also the venue question, still open even if the fight itself feels like an inevitability.. Wembley Stadium was floated as a “natural home” given the scale of the matchup, though Warren stopped short of treating the UK as a guaranteed outcome.. Still, he made it plain that the business side — demand, box office, and global attention — will matter as much as logistics.

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What could disrupt Fury vs Joshua

Warren did acknowledge a curveball idea related to the event atmosphere, but he doesn’t expect it to become a roadblock.. His message was that, despite the scale and spectacle surrounding a Saudi-financed show, the underlying objective remains the same: getting the Fury vs Joshua fight across the line.

The bigger picture: when boxing finally gets its moment

Warren’s stance suggests the next few months are less about fireworks and more about preparation.. Joshua’s July 25 warm-up is the first major checkpoint; Fury’s potential interim bout could be the second.. Then comes the set-up — and only after that, the heavyweight super-fight itself — most likely in October or November.. If both men navigate those steps cleanly, boxing’s biggest imagination-capturing matchup may finally deliver on its promise.