Tyson Fury has once again called on Anthony Joshua to sign a contract for a heavyweight world title clash in December, days after announcing that the hotly-anticipated fight was off (Fury 2/7, Joshua 5/2, Draw 20/1).
Having initially told his would-be opponent that papers had to be signed by Monday, WBC champion Fury took to social media to set a new cut-off of Thursday, urging his compatriot to “give British fans what they want”.
“The ball is in your court, everything is done,” said Fury.
“We have BT, DAZN and ESPN all on the same page, they’re happy with everything. If you have any dignity and pride about you, you’ll get this contract signed today.
But in a radio interview, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn claimed in response that he had “absolutely no idea” of Fury’s next move.
“I don’t think we’re a million miles away but I don’t know really whether Tyson Fury wants this fight,” he said.
“One minute the fight’s off, the fight’s on; one minute he’s retired, one minute he’s fighting Manuel Charr. He’s just made another offer to Derek Chisora. I don’t know.”
In the opposing camp, Fury’s promoter Frank Warren said: “Look, we can’t go on forever. Tyson is fighting on December 3 whatever happens but this is the fight we want.”
In August, Joshua failed in his bid to regain the WBA, WBO and IBF titles he lost to Oleksandr Usyk back in September 2021, the Ukrainian taking victory in their rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by split decision.
Fury announced his retirement from boxing after his successful April title defence against Dillion Whyte, before a dramatic U-turn brought about talk of a unification bout with Usyk (Fury 4/9, Usyk 7/4, draw 16/1), a ‘Battle of Britain’ against Joshua or even a trilogy fight against Derek Chisora.
Lebanon-born German fighter Manuel Charr held the WBA heavyweight title until it was stripped for inactivity in January 2021, and holds a record of 33 wins from 37 professional fights.
