Fury says that a proposed bout with UK rival Anthony Joshua is off
Fury had set a deadline for his rival. © Alex Livesey / Getty Images
The biggest all-British boxing match in a generation has hit another snag after Tyson Fury withdrew his offer of a December 3 showdown with Anthony Joshua, following the expiration of a Monday deadline to agree contractual terms.
A fight between the pair had appeared close after Fury offered Joshua a shot at his WBC heavyweight title in the aftermath of Joshua’s second successive defeat to Ukrainian champ Aleksandyr Usyk last month, with talks appearing to progress satisfactorily and a December 3 date being agreed for the clash.
However, Fury announced last weekend that he would pull out of the fight if Joshua failed to agree to the contract presented to him by 5pm on Monday (UK time) – and as soon as that deadline came and went, Fury took to social media to state that he was drawing a line through the potential fight and moving on to other opportunities.
"Forget about it! Idiot. Coward." 🤬Tyson Fury says deadline day has struck and the fight between him and Anthony Joshua is now OFF ❌📹: @Tyson_Furypic.twitter.com/roGUUzjinF
— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) September 26, 2022
“Well guys, it’s official. D-Day has come and gone, it’s gone past 5 o’clock Monday and no contract has been signed,” Fury said in a video message posted to social media.
“It’s officially over for Joshua, he’s now out in the cold with the wolf pack. Forget about it. Idiot, coward, s***house, bodybuilder. Always knew you didn’t have the minerals to fight the Gyspy King. Regardless of what you say now, I don’t really care. Good luck with your career and your life, end of.”
Fury is now expected to pursue a bout with German heavyweight Manuel Charr, a 33–4 fighter who would be a significant step down from Joshua in both challenge and potential pay-per-view revenue – but speaking to iFL TV Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, suggested that Fury never had any intention of boxing his fighter.
“Tyson Fury has no intention of taking this fight if that’s the route he’s going to take,” Hearn said.
“Tyson Fury said he’s retired, Tyson Fury said he was giving his money to the homeless… and now Tyson Fury is saying he’s walking away from the fight if we don’t sign on Monday. Well guess what, we ain’t signing on Monday; we’re having a meeting on Monday to discuss various points of the contract.
“We waited nine days for the contract and we’ve been working very hard with Queensberry, no-ones been messing round, and we have meetings with BT, with DAZN, with Queensberry, to go through the process and get this done but it ain’t happening on Monday. If you’re true to your word, which you never are, then walk away.
“The public know, you’re going to fight Manuel Charr on December 3; it’s a joke. so don’t waste our time because we’ve spent a lot of time on this fight already. If you don’t want the fight, just walk away. I don’t think Tyson and Queensberry are on the same page; they can’t be.”
Should the much-hyped Fury vs. Joshua fight be scrapped it would represent the third time in as many years that the bout has been promised but not delivered.
Fury was criticized in the summer of 2020 for stating in another social media video that former advisor Daniel Kinahan had helped broker a deal for the fight. Kinahan has since been targeted by authorities in various countries amid allegations that the Irishman operates a high-level drugs cartel operation.
A proposed date also fell apart last year after a US judge ruled that Deontay Wilder was contractually guaranteed a third fight with Fury after drawing the first and losing the second in their series.
Fury won the fight by eleventh round knockout in Las Vegas last October in a fight he dominated from start to finish.
