Anthony Joshua ripped apart as Tyson Fury gets 'brutally honest' on fight collapse
NEGOTIATIONS for Tyson Fury to fight Anthony Joshua fell through last week.
Tyson Fury reveals what he’s offered Anthony Joshua
Tyson Fury has laid into Anthony Joshua with a "brutally honest" view on why proposals for a blockbuster bout between the pair fell through. The WBC champion called out his British rival via a Twitter video message last month, but after weeks of turbulent negotiations, both parties confirmed last week that the fight was off.
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It seemed that British boxing fans would finally get the bout they craved when 'AJ' publicly said he's be ready to face Fury at the Principality Stadium on December 3. But 'The Gypsy King', who earlier this year had insisted he was retired after his KO win over Dillian Whyte, later claimed he had lost patience after setting a 24-hour deadline and would be fighting German veteran Mahmoud Charr instead.
He retracted that stance 48 hours later, saying promoter Frank Warren had persuaded him to give the Joshua camp extra time. But last Wednesday, Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn confirmed the bout would not go ahead, pointing the finger firmly at Fury and co for the breakdown.
Indeed, many fans and critics have taken aim at Fury, insinuating he was setting unrealistic deadlines and never intended to fight Joshua, instead wanting 'a tune-up' clash ahead of a potential unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian has already declared himself out of action until 2023.
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But in an interview with iD Boxing, Fury was blunt in his assessment of why negotiations broke down: "In my opinion, and this is being brutally honest, I think lack of balls from AJ," he said, when asked the reasoning behind the collapse. "Didn't want the fight, didn't push it, and didn't sign the contract."
On Hearn's claim that commercial rights held things up, he replied: "I don't even know what commercial rights are. They sound like a load of s**t to me. Excuses. Like I say, lack of balls on AJ's part or lack of - what's the word I'm trying to look for here - assertive. Being assertive. If you're a man, you be assertive with your team and make sure s**t gets done. But lack of balls I say."
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Fury also said he didn't "give a s**t" about Usyk, and also tediously threatened to retire again after his December fight. It appears a trilogy bout with Derek Chisora is now the favoured option for Fury in Cardiff, although other names remain in the mix.
Promising to reveal his opponent next week, he added: “I think there’s four or five guys in the hat. There’s a couple of southpaws in there and a couple of not southpaws, orthodoxes, so we will decide who it’s going to be but there’s a few contracts being sent out to a few different people."
