Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua – is it on or off?
The proposed heavyweight title fight between WBC champion Tyson Fury (32-0-1, 23KO) and former unified champion Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22KO) is off, according to all the involved parties.
Fury was the one who called for the fight and was the clear favourite with odds of 3/10 and Joshua a 3/1 underdog, which you can still find by placing a bet with one of these bookmakers.
But why did the negotiations break down exactly? With contrasting statements between the involved parties, BBN have attempted to summarise just what went wrong:
George Warren
CEO of Queensberry Promotions
Frank Warren’s son George was the chief negotiator for Queensberry, who represent Tyson Fury, for this proposed fight.
He was only quoted last week saying that 95% of the deal was done and that the negotiations were positive and productive.
Fast forward just a few short days later and he now reports that discussions have completely broken down, blaming Matchroom Boxing because “communication was lacking.”
He specifically pointed the finger when he said, “There was no ambition on their side to help me try and keep the thing going, that’s what it felt like by the end of it.”
According to George, he was left hanging by 258MGT CEO Frank Smith, Freddie Cunningham and Matchroom CEO Eddie Hearn persistently. No one would anser or return his calls and emails.
“I tried to call Eddie a couple of times on Thursday, he didn’t answer my calls, didn’t get back to me. I didn’t hear back, so my assumption is they, as a group, just decided for whatever reason they didn’t wanna engage last week to try and get this thing over the line, which is disappointing.”
George expressed his disappointment but took time to praise all the broadcasters – DAZN, BT, ESPN – for being so open to working together despite the many conflicting interests.
Eddie Hearn
CEO of Matchroom Boxing
Eddie’s response to George’s claims was that “huge fights like this don’t get made in two weeks.”
He also mentioned the fine details that need to be discussed regarding the broadcasters, who George already praised for being so co-operative, so this is quite a conflicting statement from Eddie.
Hearn was very quick to place blame on Tyson’s persistent outbursts on social media, saying that the ‘Gypsy King’ was forever “putting them on the clock” with his demands.
Then, when a fight contract was sent to Dereck Chisora, who Anthony Joshua represents, AJ sees development that and immediately thinks, “What’s going on?”
Hearn confirmed the news no one wanted to hear but half expected anyway, “As far as we’re concerned the fight’s off.”
Bob Arum
CEO of Top Rank
Fury’s Stateside promoter, 90-year-old Bob Arum, also blamed Eddie Hearn for the breakdown in talks and was particularly scathing, “Eddie Hearn is stalling everything because he doesn’t want the fight. He’s stalling until it dies. I think Joshua wants the fight, I know Fury does, but Eddie doesn’t.”