Despite a whole host of positive comments from both teams, a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua for Fury’s WBC title on December 3 is still not official – and s‘The Gypsy King’s patience is wearing thin.
The current situation is this. ‘AJ’s side, Matchroom, have a contract from Fury’s promotional outfit, Queensbury. Eddie Hearn and his team are currently working through ‘issues’ in the contract before officially signing.
Last night, the champion took issue with the time it was taking, insulted that Joshua’s side wouldn’t just take the offer given. He addressed his promoter, Frank Warren, directly, as captured by Queensbury.
“Make sure this dosser signs this contract on Monday – and if they don’t, it’s not going to Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday, or the week after. Deadline time baby. They either sign it, dossers, or they don’t. I’ve given them a little ticket each to come to the party. If they don’t want to attend, The Gypsy King rolls on.”
✍️ Deadline day is fast approaching, @anthonyjoshua…
The Gypsy King stops for no-one ❌#FuryJoshuapic.twitter.com/nmWN4e1KZm
— Frank Warren (@FrankWarren) September 24, 2022
Words travels fast in boxing, and at a show in Nottingham, Eddie Hearn heard about the ultimatum. In a passionate response, he told Boxing Social that now was not the time to rush things, pointing out that talks between teams were still productive despite Fury thinking otherwise.
“It’s completely conflicting, because the conversations with Queensbury are decent. They’re moving in the right direction but there’s a long way to go. So Tyson Fury wants to fight Manuel [Mahmoud] Charr – it’s pretty obvious, and the public are not the brightest if they actually think otherwise.”
“There is absolutely no way that this contract gets signed on Monday because it’s still a long way to be done. We’re moving in the right direction, we’re having meetings, and this fight takes time. We waited 9 days to get the contract, and all of a sudden he wants it signed in 24 hours. No chance. Let him do what he’s going to do. If he really wants the fight, he’ll let the process unfold and we’ll sign the contract when it’s in the right place.”
“[He says] ‘I am walking away from this fight on Monday’ – guess what? The fight ain’t getting signed on Monday. So if you want to talk away from this fight while we’re all trying to make the fight, including your promotional team, then off you go.”
Whether Fury’s ultimatum is as serious as its delivery remains to be seen, but the public back and forth can’t be good for negotiations of a fight that was already hanging on a shaky peg.