Tyson Fury is giving Anthony Joshua more time.
The heavyweight champion said a defensive proposal against his British opponent on December 3 is no longer competing and he will instead fight Mahmoud Charr after Joshua missed the deadline. Two to sign the dotted line.
However, Fury said he may have the rest of Thursday to close the deal. Of course, he can change his mind again.
“My promoter Frank Warren convinced me to let Queensberry continue to negotiate with your team this week, even though I knew you were never going to make this fight,” Fury said, according to Sky Sports.
Fury continued: “So the deadline is Monday. I gave Frank permission to continue meeting with your team and your broadcasters and all that. Now we have BT, DAZN and ESPN on the same page. They are content with everything, all ready to rock and roll.”
And, finally, he added: “Everybody is done. If you are a man, and if you have any dignity and pride in yourself, you will be signed today. This is it. No more days, weeks, and months. You’ve had the contract now for more than two weeks and you still haven’t signed it.
“Show the public that you really are a big coward I know who you are, and don’t sign it. I don’t care if you sign or not, it makes no difference to me. You are a defeated man and I am a world champion. I’m squeezing you a giant bone, but I know I can punch you in the face so I’m willing to give you a chance. “
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told Sky Sports he’s confused by Fury’s latest deadline.
“I don’t want to get involved in the back-and-forth that would negatively affect this war, but to be honest, we’re pretty confused by the situation,” Hearn said. “First, when we agreed to the terms of the fight, it took us more than a week to get the draft of the contract. We didn’t have that contract for 14 days.
“Over the next week we worked tirelessly and had several meetings with Queensberry to get the contract in good shape. Last Monday, we sent our final contract draft to Queensberry, only to find that Tyson Fury had publicly withdrawn from the fight and it was no longer on the table.
“We received feedback from Queensberry yesterday on our final draft agreement, which is currently under review. I’m not sure why Tyson Fury continues to set unrealistic deadlines while also putting up a fight with several other strong contenders for the chosen date.
“If he is serious about the fight, I suggest that he allow Matchroom and Queensberry to continue working hard to make the fight, which everyone has been trying to do.
“You cannot openly continue to withdraw from a war and then restart negotiations when there has been a lot of positive conversation. We’ll see what happens from here. “
Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) is expected to face Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title after the Ukrainian beat Joshua in consecutive bouts. However, Usyk says he won’t fight until next year and Fury doesn’t want to wait.
That’s why he turned to Joshua, who remains a compelling opponent despite his setbacks. The Fury-Joshua bout could be the biggest bout in boxing history from a business standpoint.
