Tyson Fury won’t give Anthony Joshua a second chance to fight him after he failed to meet his two deadlines last November for a fight in December.
Fury says he won’t revisit a second round of negotiations with Joshua because he’s moved on permanently.
The 34-year-old Fury, who doesn’t have much time left before retirement, says he wants to face Franciso Ngannou in a two-fight deal if his negotiations with Oleksandr Usyk don’t pan out.
Fury is reportedly asking for a ton of money for a fight with Usyk in Saudi Arabia, and according to Hearn, the Saudi’s don’t want to meet his steep asking price.
Staging the Fury-Usyk fight to the UK will make both fighters less money, but it wouldn’t be the first time Fury shot himself in the foot by spoiling a big-money fight.
In 2022, Fury defended his WBC title against Chisora and Dillian Whyte. He was hoping to fight Usyk for the undisputed championship next, but it doesn’t look good unless the money comes through from the Saudis.
If Fury does wind up facing former UFC heavyweight champion Franciso Ngannou, it’s unclear if the Saudis will want to stage the fight over there. Supposedly, there would be a lot of interest from fans in seeing Fury fight Ngannou in a couple of hybrid fights, but it’s unknown if that’ll be the case.
Whether the WBC will allow Fury to sit on his title for the entire year without defending is debatable. Fury’s last defense was a year ago in April, so unless the WBC let him swerve his mandatory challengers like they’ve done with WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo for the last two years, he could end up getting stripped.
“I don’t even [want to] go there anymore. Finished. No interest in any AJ questions. Zero. Man’s dead in my eyes,” Tyson Fury told Sportbible about his lack of interest in fighting Anthony Joshua.
“There’s no business between me and him to be done. Finished. From 2017 to, however long it’s been, 2022 – trying to make a fight. So, it’s not happening.”
“My offer to Ngannou is on the table. Like I said, if Usyk don’t fight then I’ll be looking to make the Ngannou fight,” said Fury.
“I’m going to do a two-fight deal in a boxing ring and in the cage. In a boxing ring, it would be a pointless contest.”