Robert McCracken has seen enough of this sport to know where the line is.
On one side: promoters, networks, fans, the constant drumbeat for the biggest heavyweight fight of a generation. On the other: two men who have to climb through the ropes and live with the consequences.
For Anthony Joshua’s former trainer, the decision on whether Joshua finally shares a ring with Tyson Fury belongs in only one place.
“It’s up to the fighters if they want to fight each other and try and get the better of each other,” McCracken told Sky Sports. “I don’t think it’s anybody else’s business whether they should fight or not – I think they both proved themselves.”
‘Waiting for AJ’ – and the noise around him
The noise, though, is deafening.
Frank Warren says terms are agreed for a Fury-Joshua super-fight and that they are “waiting for AJ”. Eddie Hearn has gone public to confirm talks have reopened, with Wembley Stadium the target for what would be a colossal all-British showdown.
The speculation never really stops. It just changes volume.
McCracken, the man who guided Joshua from Olympic prospect to unified world heavyweight champion, has watched the circus from a distance. He knows the temptation to look back at a career and wonder about the fights that got away, but he refuses to join the chorus demanding this one at any cost.
“I had a career as a fighter and you look back at what you maybe wished you should have done and what you shouldn’t have done,” he said. “I think it works out how it should work out most of the time.”
Then again, he also knows what a fight like this does for the sport.
“One thing I’d say is everyone’s talking about it – it puts boxing on the map and it’s great for boxing. While boxing’s in the forefront and in the news, I think it’s a really positive thing.”
Fury’s fury, Joshua’s resolve
If the public debate has been relentless, Fury has poured petrol on it.
Frustrated by the drawn-out negotiations, the WBC champion took to social media and branded Joshua a “coward”, accusing his rival of dragging his feet. It was a familiar Fury tactic: turn up the volume, turn up the pressure, keep his name in lights.
McCracken is having none of the idea that Joshua would shy away.
“With Anthony Joshua, in my experiences, he was happy to fight anybody,” he said. “It was just about how it was packaged and what was best for him – that’s how the fighters look at things these days.”
He no longer has a direct role in Joshua’s career, but from the outside he senses the bout edging closer.
“I’ve not been involved for a long time with Joshua, but it looks like it’s going to happen. Hopefully it will and then obviously everyone can enjoy it.”
Form, flaws and a fascinating equation
Their recent form only adds another layer.
Fury barely broke a sweat as he dominated Mariusz Wach and forced a one-sided stoppage. Joshua, by contrast, had to drag himself off the canvas twice against Kristian Prenga before closing the show with a knockout.
On paper, that contrast sharpens the odds.
“Joshua is coming off the back of not a great performance, but obviously he got the knockout and that is all that really matters,” McCracken said. “He’ll be looking to prove people wrong, any of the doubters.
“Tyson would be the favourite at the moment with his recent results and his form. It’s quite fascinating if you actually think about it, where it’s got to and the time it’s taken to actually get the fight on.”
Joshua, under scrutiny again, has always been at his most dangerous when questioned. The criticism of his scare against Prenga will sting, and McCracken expects that sting to fuel him.
A hungry Joshua. An in-form Fury. Years of build-up. A nation split. The equation almost solves itself.
A different kind of fight night
McCracken’s thoughts on the heavyweight saga came as he prepared for a very different occasion.
He was speaking ahead of “A Night of Solidarity” on November 13 – an Olympic-style boxing evening designed to celebrate the unifying power of sport and raise money for firefighters’ charities, youth sports organisations and community groups in North Kensington.
This is boxing stripped of pay-per-view politics and social media feuds. Grassroots, community, purpose.
The event honours the response of the local community after the Grenfell Tower tragedy, when boxing and sports clubs in the area opened their doors, created safe spaces for young people and helped those affected begin to rebuild their lives.
The London Fire Brigade Boxing Club has been at the heart of that work, using the discipline of the gym to give structure and direction to young people, while bringing them together with rank-and-file firefighters in a powerful show of solidarity.
“A Night of Solidarity” aims to shine a light on both the LFB Boxing Club and the local clubs in the areas most deeply scarred by Grenfell, recognising how they have used the sport to bind a community back together.
Across 12 bouts, an LFB Select team will face a North Kensington side made up of men, women and youth boxers from clubs across the area and wider London. The evening will raise funds for local sports charities and the Firefighters’ Charity, but its impact runs deeper than any balance sheet.
On one stage, Joshua and Fury circle each other, with the world demanding answers.
On another, under very different lights, boxing quietly does what it so often does best: gives people a ring to stand in, a corner to belong to, and a fight worth taking.
