WBC Heavyweight boxing champion, Tyson Fury has raised doubts over the heavyweight boxing showdown with Anthony Joshua saying he is on holiday and might end up re-fighting Deontay Wilder instead.
Joshua and Fury, the biggest names in boxing at the moment, are expected to meet in an all-British unification showdown this summer, which would result in the heavyweight’s first unified champion since Lennox Lewis.
Fury has however, poured water on suggestions by his promoter (Bob Arum) and that of Joshua (Eddie Hearn) that the fight is close to being officially confirmed.
“Let’s break it down. Eddie Hearn is a boxing promoter. So is Bob Arum. It’s their job to sell a fight. he said
“Joshua is saying what he’s saying, I’m not on social media at the moment at all. So whatever they are saying is very unimportant to me.
“Until I’ve got a fight, a date and hell of a lot of money in my pocket, there is no fight. There’s a lot of things going on that people don’t know about behind the scenes that can scupper a fight like that.
“So nothing is actually on until you are in the ring. So yeah, we are nowhere near that at the moment.” He added.
Fury brilliantly won the WBC heavyweight title from Deontay Wilder’s grasp in February 2020 and has not fought anyone since then making it over a year since he last fought.
He added: “Will I be fighting Joshua in the next ten minutes? No. Do I think the fight will eventually happen? Yes, it has to happen.
“Do I think it is next or imminent? No. I am not going to hold my breath for it, that’s for sure.
“I am not going to put all my eggs in one basket because I have been guilty of doing that before and, when the fight doesn’t happen, that is when I end up in a massive depression and feel like killing myself.
“I am not going to say ‘it is definitely happening in June or July’”.
Fury, also known as the Gypsy King then told IFL that he’s currently drinking up to ’12 pints of beer a day’ on holiday.
“I have stopped training at the moment, I am on holiday. I am drinking anything between eight, ten, 12 pints of lager a day, at the minute,” Fury claimed.
“But I am not eating so I am getting my calories through alcohol.
“I have trained and trained and trained with no progress so I am now a man of leisure.”
Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren (pictured below) reacting to Fury’s revelations, confirmed that the fight announcement is imminent.
Warren said the only thing delaying an announcement was that an agreement had not been reached over a site and a site fee.
Warren called for patience, while admitting Fury is getting a ‘bit peed off’
“We’ve all agreed to announce any news simultaneously, so I can’t break a confidence I’ve agreed to,” he told White and Jordan.
“But what I can say is that everything is agreed, it’s an imminent announcement and we’ve got to work on a site, and that’s it.
“It’s absolutely moving in the right direction and everybody is on the same page. Nobody is more frustrated than the fighters and us, we’ve worked like you cannot believe to get this over the line.
“I think Tyson is a bit peed off about it because it’s dragging on and on and on. Hopefully everybody will be getting the good news soon, they’ll be happy and everyone can more onto the next stage of this, which is to get this site sorted out.
“We hope it doesn’t happen later, we’re working hard to get it done sooner rather than later.
“The contracts are agreed and they will be signed, 100 per cent, I’m confident of that. By the end of the week? I hope so!”
