Share
Peter Akinbo.
Tyson Fury believes that he will never fight former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua because Joshua’s ego wouldn’t accept being put in the position of the lesser boxer on a bout.
Fury came out of retirement to call out Joshua for an eagerly anticipated super fight, offering him a 60-40 split of the purse in the Gypsy King’s favour.
But the mammoth fight didn’t come to fruition and Fury, who is the WBC world title holder and still unbeaten in 32 fights, has opened up on the failure.
“If you want to give them a deadline of two years they’re still not going to make the fight,” said the heavyweight, while talking to SecondsOut.
“They (Joshua) had the contracts for two weeks and didn’t sign them for commercial reasons, whatever that means. If you’re going to let a sponsor get in the way of the biggest heavyweight fight in British boxing history then you need to regroup.
“It was a very serious offer. They will always find a reason not to fight the Gypsy King, I can’t blame him. I would have gone through him like a hot knife through butter, inside three or four rounds.
“We know Joshua wouldn’t fight Wilder for $50million back in the day. He has never fought somebody who is going to beat him. These control freaks can’t go on somebody else’s show because their ego is too big.
“This was not Joshua versus Fury because Fury doesn’t have three losses. This was all my show so for them to turn up with their egos and be the opponent, they’re not going to do that.”
And Fury believes boxing fans won’t ever get the chance to see the British showdown, telling Behind The Gloves, “Nah. I’ve tried to make this fight for about four years and there’s always been something stopping it.
“If they’re not gonna fight, they’re not gonna fight, I’m not gonna waste any more time.”
However, in an interview with iD Boxing, Fury was blunt in his assessment of why negotiations broke down, “In my opinion, and this is being brutally honest, I think lack of balls from AJ,” he said, when asked the reasoning behind the collapse. “Didn’t want the fight, didn’t push it, and didn’t sign the contract.”
On Hearn’s claim that commercial rights held things up, he replied: “I don’t even know what commercial rights are. They sound like a load of sh*t to me. Excuses. Like I say, lack of balls on Joshua’s part or lack of – what’s the word I’m trying to look for here – assertive. Being assertive. If you’re a man, you be assertive with your team and make sure sh*t gets done. But lack of balls I say.”
