Fury Tells Joshua Camp To Stop Making Excuses

Tyson Fury believes Anthony Joshua is desperately looking for a way out of their heavyweight clash.

Per Bad Left Hook, Fury told fans that Joshua's camp has been shifting the goalposts since signing the contract, first over venue disputes — Ireland, then Las Vegas, London, New York, Cardiff — and now over Dana White's involvement as a third-party promoter. "Yesterday afternoon, this time, they were booking me my plane tickets back to London for the press conference on Wednesday," Fury said. "Then about four hours later I gets a phone call saying they're trying to pull out the fight, they're making excuses."

Eddie Hearn Dispute Over Dana White Role

Fury called Eddie Hearn a roadblock, saying the Matchroom boss has no contractual standing to promote the bout and is throwing a tantrum over White's attachment to the project. Turki Alalshikh, who is bankrolling the card alongside Netflix and Fury's broadcast partners, reportedly insisted on White's inclusion. "How ridiculous does that sound," Fury said of Hearn's objection. "A promoter who is not actually the promoter of the fight, nor can he be the promoter of the fight ever."

Fury said he has bent over backward to make the fight happen, including agreeing to every venue change and rule tweak Joshua's side proposed. He gave the fight a one-percent chance of happening at this point. "If you've got a guy who wants to fight and a guy who doesn't want to fight, then how you going to make that fight happen?"

Fury added that Alalshikh was already scouting replacements, including David Benavidez, whom Fury called a much tougher challenge than Joshua. "Benavidez stops Joshua in about three rounds," he said. The press conference originally scheduled for Wednesday in London is now off the calendar.

Reported via:

• Bad Left Hook — ‘They’ve been trying to get out of this since they signed it’: Tyson Fury skeptical Anthony Joshua fight comes through