ANTHONY JOSHUA and Tyson Fury's fight for the ages is 'on the verge' of being announced with only a 'handful' of issues left to sort out.

Contracts between AJ's promoter Eddie Hearn have been exchanged with Fury's backers Bob Arum and Frank Warren.

Hearn has been more vocal about a deal being imminent, much to the frustration of 89-year-old Arum.

But the Top Rank boss has ensured the two sides are closing in on an agreement, with just a few minor issues needing to be resolved.

Arum said on talkSPORT: “It’s very, very hard for Eddie to shut up.

“I told him, let’s get this over the line, let’s get this done, and then we’ll make a joint announcement.

“To stop Eddie is like stopping a raging river, he can’t keep his mouth shut.

“All I’ll say about what’s happening is that both Matchroom’s side and our side, which includes Queensberry and Robert Davis (the attorney for Tyson).

“The negotiations have been pleasant, it’s proceeding like every big fight does.

“We made changes, they accept some, they send it back, back and forth. And all I can say is that the issues are gradually dwindling.

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“That’s what you wanna do in this type of situation, you wanna diminish the number of issues.

“And now the number of issues is less than a handful, so I am very optimistic that this is gonna go over the line."

For the first time in heavyweight history, all four of the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO belts are set to be at stake.

A deal will be cut down the middle 50/50 but a venue is still being discussed.

Amid coronavirus restrictions, the Battle of Britain looks destined for a foreign fixture with the Middle East and Asia interested hosts.

Hearn revealed Joshua has overlooked the terms with an announcement now closer than ever before.

He told Sky Sports: "Contracts have been backwards and forwards. Only minor details to be resolved on both ends. We're in a good place.

"AJ was in the office yesterday with us. We had a good meeting to finalise our side of stuff.

"We're on the verge now of getting this fight done. We want to make sure the ink is dry, and then we'll go out and finalise the site details.

"I'm going to keep quiet for now, which probably won't last for too long, but in the meantime working hard to finalise what is the absolute biggest fight in boxing."

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