Tyson Fury has now turned down Anthony Joshua’s request for a December 17th date. Fury says he has November 26th at Wembley or December 3rd at Principality dates for Joshua, and that’s a “take or leave” offer.
Fury’s hardball negotiation tactics could blow up in his face if he offends Joshua, who has a lot of pride despite suffering a few setbacks.
According to Fury, if Joshua doesn’t agree to the November 26th or December 3rd dates, he’ll move on and face unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship in February or March.
Joshua won’t be losing much if the Fury fight doesn’t happen now, as he can ultimately snare all four belts by waiting for the smoke to clear from the Fury-Usyk fight.
“I have Nov 26th at Wembley or Dec 3rd [at Principality]. One is 11 weeks, and one is 12 weeks. If a professional athlete who’s shredded all year round can’t get himself in shape in three months, there’s a problem,” said Fury to talkSPORT.
It’s unclear why Fury is in such a rush to get Joshua into the ring on those two dates rather than on December 17th.
Is this a stubborn power play on Fury’s part, a move to show Joshua who’s the boss, or is he doing this in hopes that AJ will be weaker & more vulnerable to him?
To be sure, it works for Fury if Joshua is rushed back to the ring as fast as possible because he just went through a hard 12 round fight against Usyk on August 20th, losing by a unanimous decision.
If Joshua were younger in his early to mid-20s, it wouldn’t be a big deal for him to be railroaded into returning at light speed back to the ring after his fight against Usyk, but he’s 32, and he needs all the rest he can get after that defeat.
“Nov 26th at Wembley or Dec 3rd in Cardiff. That’s the dates, take or leave,” said Fury on Instagram.
There it is. Fury displays his primitive negotiation tactics for the Joshua fight. We’ll see whether Joshua is willing to bend to Fury’s latest request or not. It seems like a trivial thing, but there’s pride involved on Joshua’s part, and I’m sure he’s not happy dealing with Fury’s games.
