Tyson Fury’s latest offer to fight Anthony Joshua was nipped in the bud quickly – and his US promoter, Bob Arum, believes it was the right move on the challenger’s part.
Joshua’s team declined to participate in further talks to face Fury in favour of sticking with a plan of fighting in August before going into a long-awaited bout with Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia this December.
Speaking to Boxing Social, Arum of Top Rank said that it was the best move for ‘AJ’ in a business sense.
“Why would he want to fight Tyson Fury now when he can wait for the Saudi money in the winter and fight Wilder? This is a business for them.
All this stuff ‘he’s afraid, he doesn’t want it, I blame him, I blame him’ – I don’t blame anybody. Everybody’s in it to make the best business deal they can, and as far as Joshua is concerned that probably is waiting for December and fighting Wilder.
Joshua is currently in talks to fight Whyte on August 12 before the Wilder fight in December.
The veteran promoter said Fury should have a similar activity plan with an undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk at the end of it.
As far as Tyson Fury is concerned I think he should have a fight early September when people come back from vacation and then get ready to fight Usyk this winter.”
Fury’s team are said to be in negotiations with one or two heavyweights for the September bout, and are awaiting an offer from Usyk’s side as to the end-of-the-year four-belt fight.