Anthony Joshua has reacted to Tyson Fury’s latest fight offer – and it doesn’t bode well for the all-British blockbuster happening anytime soon.
Although Joshua has lost his titles and some believe killer instinct, many would still argue a Fury vs Joshua clash would be the biggest fight in British boxing history.
The two actually put pen to paper on a deal in 2021 only for Deontay Wilder to win an arbitration case, forcing The Gypsy King to face him for a third time.
They also began very public negotiations at the end of last year, but with strict deadlines set by Fury on social media, the talks collapsed and the WBC champion went on to face old pal Derek Chisora for a third time.
Fury has now reached out to AJ once again with an offer to fight at Wembley in September.
With Tyson recently talking up fights against Zhilei Zhang, Andy Ruiz Jr, Demsey McKean and Jon Jones amongst others, it comes as no surprise Joshua is taking the recent call-out with a pinch of salt.
Speaking to iFL TV Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, revealed his man ‘laughed’ on first hearing of the news.
“I spoke to AJ, AJ laughed and said isn’t he fighting Jai Opetaia, or Demsey McKean, or Jon Jones, I said no, they’re telling us they want to fight you, but we’re fighting in August and September, that’s our plan.
I’ll go through the process and see how real this is. I believe George Warren, I think they’re in a really difficult spot, Tyson Fury. He wants big money fights and AJ is the money fight for him, but no back and forth, just ‘we’ll talk’. Right now our plan remains the same, August and Deontay Wilder in December so we’ll see what happens in Saudi Arabia this week. That’s our plan, that’s what we’re moving forward with this week, if we can’t make that happen we’ll 100% look at the Tyson Fury fight.
Joshua looks set to face Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia this December, and it seems Hearn isn’t prepared to derail those plans on the hope Fury is being genuine.