Anthony Joshua’s team have removed themselves from current talks to face Tyson Fury, as per promoter Frank Warren.
The WBC Heavyweight Champion is currently in the market for an opponent, and reignited the domestic rivalry last week by claiming to have sent a draft contract to Joshua.
‘AJ’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, clarified that they hadn’t received anything of the sort, but that he had been approached by George Warren, who handles Fury’s fights alongside his father, to discuss a fight in September.
Joshua, like most fans, was sceptical as to how serious the fight proposal was, and Hearn told Boxing Social that his man wasn’t keen to disrupt some already detailed plans to fight once in August before facing fellow former world champion, Deontay Wilder, in December.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, Frank Warren confirmed that this is the route Joshua’s team plans to take and won’t allow it to be derailed by a domestic dust-up with Fury.
“Last week, a written proposal was sent to Matchroom for AJ to fight Tyson in September. Eddie Hearn came back and spoke to my son George, who said it will take a couple of days to see where they are with it.
“Couple of days went by and George met yesterday with AJ’s management company. They confirmed that AJ is fighting in Dubai in December, that is his preferred route. There is a space open in August but they basically do not want to do the fight.”
“So the situation is, Tyson is desperate to make the fight happen, as he was against Usyk. But AJ has chosen not to take the fight and that is where we are at.”
The situation is reminiscent of the very public and frustrating negotiations between the pair at the end of last year – something fans are tired of seeing in the sport.
That leaves Fury without a fight and potentially sitting on the sidelines until the chance at an undisputed bout with Oleksandr Usyk comes around again.