Eddie Hearn, promoter for WBO, IBF, WBA, IBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, is crossing his fingers that a unification with Tyson Fury will come off in 2022.

Joshua and Fury were on the verge of facing each other on a date in August, in Saudi Arabia.

Their fight fell apart when an arbitrator ordered Fury to honor a rematch clause due to Deontay Wilder. The legal drama forced both boxers to go in different directions.

Fury will now defend his WBC title in a trilogy fight with Wilder on October 9th, while Joshua will stake his titles against mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk on September 25th. Neither champion is expected to fight again this year.

Provided both champions win, Hearn would like to see them collide in the first half of 2022.

“I’d love to say yes. I hope and pray. I don’t really believe a lot that comes from that side. I hope their fight [Fury vs Wilder] happens in October and I hope Fury wins," Hearn told Talk Sport.

“Right now, the way everything’s gone, let’s just beat Usyk on September 25 – that’s going to be a tough fight. But that is the dream. The dream has always been for AJ to be undisputed world champion and we won’t stop until that happens.”

The last time Fury saw action was back in February 2020, when he dropped and stopped Wilder in the seventh round to capture the WBC title.

Joshua was in the ring last December, when he knocked out mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev.