Tyson Fury won first in seven rounds on Friday night, the next night Anthony Joshua won in two rounds, but that does not tell the story of an extraordinary weekend of fights.
The pair have agreed to fight each other later this year in a massive and long overdue showdown. The harsh truth is that neither victory was impressive.
Fury looked sluggish and Joshua was dropped twice by Kristian Prenga in the opening round before recovering his senses to deliver a stunning knockout.
However, there is still no date, no venue and not even confirmation of a country for their long overdue fight. The original signed contracts from two months ago are close to being ripped up; the contracts are only valid if their fight takes place in Britain.
The pair have been linked since they both held versions of the world heavyweight title at the same time in the summer of 2016; it is one of boxing’s longest running sagas, a potentially great fight that is now moving ever closer to collapse.
Joshua was having his first fight since the fatal car crash last December in Lagos; two of Joshua’s closest friends died in the crash - Joshua survived.
He entered the ring in Jeddah looking calm and relaxed, but was sent sprawling by a short right uppercut in the opening 15 seconds. He looked badly hurt, both stunned and dazed. He recovered his feet, was staggered several more times and then touched down again for a second knockdown. The Fury fight looked over. Fury was expected at ringside but never showed. Joshua survived the round - just.
In round two, Prenga never threw a punch, Joshua recovered and knocked out the Albanian with about 20 seconds of the round left. Prenga was out cold, Joshua was ecstatic. It was an impressive comeback.
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In Pattaya, Thailand, the night before, Fury finally forced the aging and hulking Polish veteran, Mariusz Wach to quit at the end of seven rounds. It was not vintage Fury, but it was enough on the night in front of a lively crowd at a Muay Thai stadium. The fight was not shown live and will instead be part of a Netflix series about family life in the Fury household.
The consensus, during the past three weeks, was that they would both win their warm-up fights, then Fury would arrive at ringside in Jeddah after a 4,000km journey, Joshua would invite him to the ring, they would face off and announce a date and a venue; the plan seemed to start unravelling when it was clear that New York and Las Vegas were also contenders to stage the fight. Hearn confirmed the contracts - signed by both boxers - were for a fight in Britain only.
“I will fight him anywhere,” insisted Fury. “I just can’t see him in the corner opposite me.”
Fury has long insisted that Joshua will never fight him; Joshua has laughed at the slight. “He’s the one that keeps retiring - I’ve never gone anywhere,” countered Joshua.
Meanwhile, Fury’s business manager, Spencer Brown, did make the arduous journey from ringside in Pattaya to ringside in Jeddah, and was confident the fight will take place. “It’s 100 per cent happening - there will be big news soon,” he insisted.
Nobody expected Joshua to come so close to defeat in a fight that looked like a sensible match, but a mismatch; Prenga came close to ruining the big dreams of the big men.
The fight will be announced in the next week or two, and that will be long enough for everybody involved to look forward, and not back at the two scraps at the very heart of a truly bizarre weekend.