Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn has disclosed that the much-anticipated bout between his client, Anthony Joshua and the Gypsy King, Tyson Fury, has been called off.
He revealed that the bout was called off due to a lack of progress in contract negotiations.
The Matchroom promoter claims that the matter is still up for discussion and that a future date could be set for the fight, but he also implied that the fight is off as of right now.
“As far as we’re concerned the fight’s off. We’re happy to continue the discussions,” Hearn said to Sky Sports.
Hearn is of the opinion that Fury never really desired to face Joshua because he kept making contracts available to other fighters, such as Derek Chisora.
“In our mind, he is not fighting Anthony Joshua. We’re more than happy to continue those conversations, but what we have been told is the deadline is passed and so has the entire country. We have sent the final version of the contract back, they’ve come back with points and we were told that the fight is off by the man himself.
“They gave us terms ultimately and a date they thought we wouldn’t accept. We did accept that. We were ready to go. If they were to sign the contract on Monday, they had a fight. We were asked to agree on the deal by Monday, then we were asked to agree to it by Wednesday. We got the comments back on Wednesday.”
Hearn was annoyed by Fury’s deadlines and the insults he directed at his client.
“We were never going to sign the fight then, and we were told the fight’s off. It’s still there. It’s still open for discussion. But we’re not going to play a game with a bloke that’s just coming out telling Joshua it’s off, and then he’s a dosser, he’s got to sign it, etc. Have your fight if you fight someone else and we’ll do our thing and we’ll see what happens.”
He even added that Fury has moved on to another, less appealing match-up.
“At the weekend or Friday, Derek Chisora received a contract for the Tyson Fury fight.
“So have other fighters, so in our mind, he’s not fighting Joshua.”
Following Joshua’s unsuccessful attempts to reclaim his belts from the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, Fury unexpectedly challenged the British-Nigerian, and boxing fans eagerly anticipated the bout scheduled for December 3 in Cardiff.
However, negotiations dragged on for weeks while Fury made public callouts before Hearn announced that the bout was over.
