John Fury, the father of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, makes it very clear that his son will return to the ring in the near future - with or without IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO champion Anthony Joshua.

A deal was reached for a two fight series, with the hope that both bouts can take place in 2021.

Both sides are attempting to finalize a date and location, but at the moment nothing has been set down in stone.

Tyson Fury has been applying a lot of pressure on both sides, because his level of inactivity is growing by the week.

He's been out of action since February of 2020, when he stopped Deontay Wilder in seven rounds to capture the WBC world title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Fury's co-promoter, Frank Warren, believes a fight with Joshua is not likely to happen until late August or September - due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

John Fury is firm in his position that Tyson won't sit around and wait on the sidelines.

"We will fight anyway, with or without AJ," John Fury told Sky Sports. "We have made this quite clear.

"I hope [Hearn] can make it. He's trying, doing the best he can. You wouldn't expect [Fury's promoters] Bob Arum to run all over the world aged 90, Frank Warren is 70. Eddie is just a young man! He does a great job, I like his interviews, he's a good character, his dad can be proud of him. I hope he hasn't shot himself in the foot by letting the cat out of the bag too early. I feel that's what he did because he wanted to be the one to announce it.

"As of 9pm [on Tuesday], nothing has changed. I know they are working their backsides off to get this over the line. But it's proving to be a difficult one for Eddie Hearn. He's gone to all four corners of the world trying to sell this fight.

"Nobody wants to invest because it's the wrong timing for their business. They want to make money out of it, but the timing won't allow them to make money out of it. But the world wants it. They have been in a rush with it. When you rush a cake, it doesn't taste right. "This fight could be made a lot easier, a lot simpler, in the coming months when people get back to easier ways, to normality."