Tyson Fury is struggling to find a dance partner for a summer fight according to his promoter, Frank Warren.
‘The Gypsy King’ was last out in December in a voluntary defence of his WBC title against Derek Chisora. Fury dealt with his countryman handily, and subsequently entered negotiations with the division’s other champion, Oleksandr Usyk.
Those talks came to nothing, and the man many consider to be the best heavyweight in the world finds himself in limbo. Frustratingly, the WBC have not called a mandatory challenger after an order for a final eliminator between Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz Jr was largely ignored.
Wilder entered talks with Saudi Arabia to face Anthony Joshua this December, with a fight in the interim possible but not yet confirmed. That left Ruiz, who was, for a period of time, frontrunner for Fury.
Warren revealed to Boxing News that the Mexican-American has been ruled out due to ‘financial demands’ before listing the other potential challengers who are now spoken for.
“I want to get him out whatever happens and get back in the swing of things. It’s just a bloody shame we wasted so much time [on the Usyk fight].”
“The problem we’ve got is the ones we wanted are all fighting. The Zhang fight, Joe Joyce, I wouldn’t have gone with Joe next, he’ll have to get a win first and obviously Daniel. We’ll have a look around and see what’s available.”
Joe Joyce has officially activated his rematch clause with Zhilei Zhang following his first pro defeat in April. His team are adamant that they want the fight next.
Daniel Dubois is currently in talks with Oleksandr Usyk to challenge for his unified titles as per the WBA’s mandatory system.
Asked if a big show at Wembley Stadium was still in the mix for Fury, Warren said timing could be an issue.
“I don’t know yet because we’re getting very close [to summer], that’s part of the problem, but we’ll get him out.”
Fury’s US promoter, Bob Arum, recently confirmed that they were revisiting the Usyk fight for this December. With the ‘AJ’-Wilder showdown also targeted for then, it leaves what many consider the top four perhaps tentative to take a big test before then.
As it stands, Tyson Fury remains without a date, venue or opponent, with no clear options on the table.