Bob Arum claims there are now 'less than a handful' of issues to resolve in order to agree a 2021 fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. 

Representatives of the high-profile British boxing duo have been in negotiations ever since the summer over a contest that would put all four boxing heavyweight titles on the line. 

Sportsmail revealed that the £200million fight could be signed off as soon as this week, and Fury's US co-promoter Arum claims optimism is growing that an agreement can be reached soon as there are just a few more obstacles to overcome. 

Arum told talkSPORT: '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. 

'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 going to go over the line.'

On Joshua's side, promoter Eddie Hearn provided an update to fans last week regarding the status of the fight and how the contract negotiations are going. 

The Matchroom director claimed a contract for the fight has been drafted but both sides are making amendments to the provisional document.

Hearn told the Boxing News Podcast: 'There will be some (minor issues) when you go down to the changing rooms and that. But that's stuff that you work through to resolve it.

'When you talk about Deontay Wilder vs Joshua (negotiations), we never even had a draft contact.

'With this it's – all the points have been discussed, the contract's been drafted, it's been received, it's going backwards and forwards with minor points. I actually don't see any way this fight falls apart.'

However, Arum has hit out at Hearn for speaking too much about the negotiations and begged him to 'keep his mouth shut' until an agreement is reached and an announcement can be made from both sides. 

Arum added: '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.'