Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua takes major step forward as Bob Arum reveals historic pay-per-view deal agreed with three dates being worked to

Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury is another step closer to becoming reality.

AJ will bring his IBF, WBO, WBA and IBO heavyweight titles to the table and WBC champion Tyson Fury puts his belt on the line in an undisputed heavyweight title fight that many couldn’t see happening.

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A site deal in Saudi Arabia has been agreed by all parties and now fellow promoter Bob Arum has revealed that the TV distribution deals are in place.

“The traditional pay-per-view outlets will be part of it, like DirecTV, In Demand, etc.,” Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told .

He noted that because of the time difference between Saudi Arabia and the United States the telecast would begin in the late afternoon Eastern Time. “It will be a normal pay-per-view here (in the United States). ESPN will be the distributor.”

When it comes to the UK, Sky Sports is where Joshua has an exclusive deal for his fights. Fury’s fights are on BT Sport, which at one point was thought to be a point of contention, but now, for the first time ever, both have pay-per-view arms that will carry the fight, Arum revealed.

“Obviously, the big market is the UK, where everyone is talking it will do three million homes,” he said. “Sky and BT both will have it on pay-per-view," insisting neither will have exclusivity.

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The pay-per-view price is still to be determined.

“I have no idea. We’ll work it out with ESPN, with In Demand,” Arum explained, adding Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn is still to be consulted. “It has to be a price that everybody agrees to.”

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In terms of the announcement of the fight, Arum says he expects it to be within the next two weeks. He also confirmed that July 24, July 31 and August 7 are the three working dates on the table, but ultimately that will be down to the Saudi investors.

“We have (site deal) contracts now that we are marking up and so forth,” Arum said. “It’s a big step. We’re just doing the paperwork now with the Saudis.”

“It’s going to have to be within the next 10 days, maybe two weeks,” Arum said. “It’s a massive economic deal.”