Heavyweight boxing champions, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have come out to attack each other online as their undisputed king of the heavyweight clash planned for this summer enters disarray.
Joshua’s clash with Fury tagged the ‘Battle of Britain’ was thrown in doubt after a US judge ruled in favour of Fury fighting Deontay Wilder following arbitration.
It means Fury needs to fight former WBC champion Wilder for a third time, or would need to strike a step aside deal to keep his super-fight with AJ alive.
Fury dethroned Wilder of the WBC title in February 2020 but their contract included an immediate rematch.
The fight never came to fruition amid the coronavirus pandemic and the Gypsy King’s team argued the stipulation expired in October.
As a result, Fury entered talks with Joshua while Wilder took his case to civil court. After months in court, the judgment went in favour of Wilder.
On Wednesday night, May 19, Joshua took to Twitter to call Fury ‘a fraud’ questioning why Fury entered talks with him knowing there was a legal case yet to be resolved.
Joshua, 31, tweeted: “The world now sees you for the fraud you are. You’ve let boxing down! You lied to the fans and led them on.
“Used my name for clout not a fight. Bring me any championship fighter who can handle their business correctly.”
Fury, 32, in response said he and Joshua should put up 20milliom each to fight bare knuckles without gloves :
“Your more full of s*** that Eddie, Spouting absolute s***e!
“Your full team knew there was an Arbitration going on, it was out of my hands!
“But I tell you what if i’m a fraud let’s fight this weekend bare knuckles till 1 man quits? let’s put up 20 mill each!!!”
In response, Joshua told Fury not to ‘test him’, referring to him as a ‘waste man’
AJ posted: “If there was an arbitration going on, why announce to the world we are fighting! The fight was signed! UNDISPUTED.
“Bare knuckle? You’re a good kid, don’t play with me Luke! I’ll slap your bald head & you’ll do nothing! Waste man.”
Fury is now faced with either fighting Wilder or negotiating compensation package to allow him to proceed with his plan to box Joshua.
With things looking bleak, AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn revealed he will give Fury’s side until the end of the week to resolve their trilogy dispute.
Hearn said on Matchroom Boxing’s YouTube channel: “I have been focusing on Plan A. The only fight we had our mind on was Tyson Fury.
“We hope that that fight can still take place on August 14th.
“The game changed last night where we have to have a plan B in place, and probably a plan C as well.
“We have a couple of different options; of course, the one that springs to mind immediately is the WBO mandatory of Oleksandr Usyk.
“They have been quite patient and I think really, we are in a situation where if Team Fury don’t get themselves together, get their act together, by the end of this week, we will have no option but to look for an alternative fight.”
