Tyson Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren has accused Anthony Joshua’s camp of radio silence, stating they have “bent over backwards” in pursuit of an agreement.
The saga surrounding the ‘Battle of Britain’ bout on December 3 rumbles on without an apparent conclusion, after Fury issued his rival a deadline of Monday to sign a contract before he walked away.
Joshua failed to do that, leading Fury to close the door on a bout, but he handed an olive branch to his compatriot once again on Thursday, though made it clear a verdict would need to be reached before the end of the day.
On AJ’s side, Eddie Hearn has said he was ‘baffled’ by Fury’s behaviour and dubbed the deadlines as ‘unrealistic’ but Fury’s camp have a contrasting view, claiming they are not getting any responses.
“We’ve done all that’s necessary with BT, ESPN and DAZN. They’re all happy. We gave them a contract. They’ve had it for two weeks and it hasn’t come back yet,” he told TalkSport.
“Ticketing and the venue is ready to go. We’ve agreed transparency with them. Everything in the pot. Everything they needed, co-promotion, the lot – we’ve bent over backwards. We’ve not had anything back.
“I had a bet with Tyson that we’d get it done in the next few days. He said ‘no, Joshua doesn’t want the fight’. I’ve lost the bet. Joshua said he wanted the fight, so let’s get it done. I don’t understand this.”
Fury has consistently made it clear he will fight in December regardless of the opponent, having stepped back into contention after announcing his retirement after defeating Dillian Whyte at Wembley in April.
If a fight against Joshua does not materialise, Mahmoud Charr stands as the most likely opponent for Fury after he took to social media on Thursday to verbally accept a proposal to face the German.
“Mahmoud Charr, it seems now that AJ is finally out, he’s ducked his way out, coward, and you’re the man who wants to fight, so I like that,” he said on an Instagram video.
“I like the fact you’re very vocal and you’re calling for a fight like a man should do. Any man who wants to fight a man should call him out as you’ve been doing to me. So I accept your challenge Mahmoud Charr, let’s get it on.”
Source: Livescore