So if AJ v Fury doesn’t happen, whose fault is it?

[TitoFan]

It's not like it's never going to happen. Strange for a bunch of fans used to fights being "marinated", and having waited eons for clashes such as Floyd-Pacquiao and Canelo-GGG.

It's not like Fury and Joshua have been dancing around for years after Fury beat Wilder. It was Wilder and Joshua who were locked in that interminable dance before Fury crashed the party and fought Wilder.

They're both still young, by HW standards, and so what if they need to take care of another roadblock before meeting.

Let's just hope they both show the same getup in arranging to fight if and when they've taken care of their obligations.

[sanatogen]

Fury beat Wlad and had a path to become undisputed long ago
Joshua had a chance, but who knows why that didn't happen either.

Wilder is simply asking what's he's contractually obliged. Crap timing, but it's a 3 fight contract that Fury signed.

Arum, get it done. Fury can bite the bullet cough up 14m from the mega payday with Joshua and clean out wilder later.

If Team Fury can't get it done, then they may as well hide in a cave. Fury will be well aware his name will be mud.

[Primo Carnera]

No option for Uncle Bob then? (:

In the last 48hrs he has said

"We're not paying Wilder to step aside," Arum told Mark Kriegel of ESPN. "It's better to get rid of him and go about our business. We can make the Fury-Joshua fight for November or December."

And also

Bob Arum calls the arbitrators ruling on Fury-Wilder a "preposterous decision." Says the plan is to move ahead with Fury-Joshua in August and try to sell Wilder on facing the winner in November/December.

This is after him claiming the AJ/Fury fight was 'a mirage' and the Hearn was trying to squeeze the last big money fight out of AJ before the matchroom/Sky contracts run out and really it was a way to squirm out of facing Usyk.

I’ll try to answer your posts in one.
1. Good luck for the upcoming wedding.
2. There is an option for Arum .
3. Although I said I wasn’t sure whose to blame , one thing is for absolute certain. AJ is the only one who is completely blameless. And yes, I’ve read some of the stuff on social media aimed at Joshua, and it is nothing short of pathetic.

[Kirkland Laing]

I had no idea the Fury Wilder contract thing had gone to arbitration. You'd think Bob and Frank would have had something from Wilder in writing saying he wouldn't exercise his clause if they're negotiating for a Joshua fight.

Things we know.

Bob and Frank's lawyers will have advised them that Wilder might be able to throw a spanner in the works before they started negotiating with Hearn even if they didn't know that anyway.

They still went ahead and did it. So did Hearn, who would have been similarly advised.

This leads you to believe that they were always considering the option of paying Wilder to step aside if he won the arbitration decision.

They're now saying they're not going to pay step aside money and are trying to sell Wilder on a fight with the winner.

In boxing promoters will always make the biggest available payday in a situation like this particularly when the payday is so big. There have been reports that Saudi are offering a hundred and fifty million site fee. Then add on forty or fifty global telly money.

Wilder's step aside demand begins to look like excellent value for money especially when it's an initial offer. He'd probably settle for ten.

Bob and Frank and Tyson are set for a gigantic payday that dwarfs anything they've made before. Frank doesn't make the fight, Fury blows it against Wilder and Frank is back doing shows at the Copper Box. Not so bad for Arum but the man is an accountant, he's purely about the money and the money decision here is obvious. From a financial and a sporting viewpoint the decision for Fury is obvious too.

Assuming the Saudi number is anywhere close to reports -- and it could be a fraction of that and so much smaller to the extent it changes all the calculations above -- I would expect some kind of deal to be done between Wilder and BFT sooner rather than later.

[Ron Swanson]

​Team Fury, for apparently thinking they didn’t have to honour a cast iron contract already in place to fight Wilder.

Yep, strange to watch these people try to pretend it’s anything else. Things aren’t nearly as dramatic as the internet would have you believe. Everyone swooning, chill, take a sip of water and get out of your heads. Things are exactly as they appear to be.

[SlimTrae]

If Don King was running boxing or he was number 1 promoter this fight would be done.

Say what you want about him. He got the fights over the line. He didn't fk about. Look at his legacy. Look at his history. He made sure fighters fought in their prime.

As much as I dislike Con King it is based on what fighters said of him & not of his fight promoting. For myself, yeah, no one stacked cards like King. You're right!


So few complaints of fights not made during Don's era, I think we could fit all [should have been fights] during his run in a sentence or two.

[Master]

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury tipped to face Usyk and Wilder humiliation - 'Then what?'

Two-time heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs has suggested that Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury could lose their proposed fights against Oleksandr Usyk and Deontay Wilder respectively, throwing the British pair's future unification bout into disarray. Joshua and Fury came tantalisingly close to agreeing a deal to face off in August for all the marbles, but the latter's obligation to entertain Wilder for a third time ultimately poured cold water on the possibility of a blockbuster clash this summer.

The event was scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia, with Matchroom supremo Eddie Hearn claiming that a brand-new stadium would be constructed for the sole purpose of playing host.

As a result, Joshua has been ordered to fight Usyk, who is the mandatory challenger to the Watford-born champion's WBO strap.

Meanwhile, Fury will trade blows with Wilder once again, with their trilogy bout pencilled in for July 24 as the American challenger looks to regain the WBC title he lost to the 'Gypsy King' last year.

The 35-year-old was knocked out in the seventh round 15 months ago after being forced to settle for a draw at the end of their first fight, but Briggs has claimed that his compatriot has every chance of redeeming himself at the third time of asking.

"Fury might have got the wrong idea," the 49-year-old told Sky Sports. "If this guy knocks out Fury, then what? It is possible. Will there be a fourth fight?

"Fury can't sleep on Wilder. We've got to look at this for what it is, a 200lbs man? With those skinny legs he shouldn't hit that hard!

"But he hits sickly hard. It isn't normal to hit that hard. But he can't fight backing up."

Briggs also gave his backing to Usyk ahead of the former cruiserweight champion's bout with Joshua, declaring that an upset could be on the cards if the fight stretches into the later rounds.

The Ukrainian challenger will go into the event off the back of a dominant victory over Derek Chisora in October.

"The fight to get ready for is Usyk vs Wilder! We might have to get ready for that," he added.

"Tough, tough, tough fight. A guy like that? Who can work like that? He is a king-sized Vasyl Lomachenko.

"As the rounds go on, he gets stronger. The best chance for AJ is to catch him early. AJ is strong early, Usyk is strong late.

"This is a dangerous fight, a tough fight. This Usyk is different, man. This is AJ's toughest fight, equally as tough as AJ vs Fury.

"If the ring is big, he will be hard to catch. He gets stronger as the rounds go on so, what happens is, he starts pushing you downhill.

"He has work rate and he's southpaw. He can sneak shots in. He has so much energy, he throws so many punches which aren't all hurting you, but it's the punches that you don't see.

"His condition goes up and up, and he runs you into the ground."

Joshua previously tasted defeat at the hands of Andy Ruiz Jr back in 2019 before avenging the result six months later to regain his heavyweight titles.

The 31-year-old followed up with an impressive victory over Kubrat Pulev in December, delivering the knockout blow in the ninth round to thwart the spirited Russian's progress at Wembley's SSE Arena.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...rtan-ntp-feeds

[Master]

Tyson Fury's promoter hits back at claims he is to blame for Anthony Joshua fight collapse

Tyson Fury's promoter Frank Warren has slammed Eddie Hearn for claiming his team is to blame for the collapse of Fury's fight with Anthony Joshua in August.

Arbitration brought by Deontay Wilder ordered the current WBC champion to organise a trilogy with the American, which will now take place on July 24, meaning the August 14 Saudi Arabian undisputed bout has been shelved.

And while Joshua's promoter has claimed that the fight was ruined by poor practice on the Fury side, Warren has rebuked these accusations, saying that judge Daniel Weinstein was annoyed by Hearn's daily updates on the fight being '100 per cent' done.

“At the start of the year, all parties involved in the fight - fighters, promoters, managers - signed a contract as to how the negotiations would take place," Warren told Seconds Out.

“In that agreement there was a clause that made it very clear there was an arbitration situation going on as far as Tyson is concerned - so everyone was aware of it and that we were awaiting the outcome of that.

“There was another clause in there regarding confidentiality and that we would make announcements together, so that we would all be on the same page.

“Within a very short space of time, Eddie Hearn breached that agreement by making announcements - every week there was something, announcements about announcements, the fight is done and so forth.

“That was totally untrue. The fight wasn't done, it wasn't signed and every time I did an interview I just said the truth, and all these announcements, that were being made on a regular basis by Hearn.

"I don't think that helped and it caused a lot of confusion.”

Hearn said he was told by Fury's other promoter - Top Rank boss Bob Arum - that should Wilder win the arbitration case he would be awarded damages, as opposed to having a third fight forced through.

He also said that there was an option for Fury to terminate the contract last December, having seen their July and October trilogy plans delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

But it now appears Fury will face Wilder one last time at the Allegiant Stadium this summer while Joshua may end up fighting in the UK against mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk.

Warren also claimed that Usyk's position as WBO mandatory would have been a sticking point, even if Fury won the arbitration case last week.

He added: “Usyk had written to the WBO, and subsequently all parties concerned, saying that they will be suing if the fight goes ahead.

“So even if we had won the arbitration we would still be sued by Usyk, there would have been an action and they would have been looking for injunctions to stop it.

“So that wasn't dealt with or brought to anybody's attention. Pot, kettle and all that from Hearn.

“One minute he is telling everybody I'm not involved at all in the negotiations - and now it is my fault.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...rtan-ntp-feeds

[Master]

Anthony Joshua fuels conspiracy theory over collapse of Tyson Fury fight

Joshua believes Fury's team never believed promoter Eddie Hearn would secure their £150million undisputed fight - and set him up as a scapegoat

Anthony Joshua is convinced Tyson Fury's team never believed promoter Eddie Hearn would secure their £150million undisputed fight - and set him up as a scapegoat.

Joshua and Fury had agreed a deal to fight in Saudi Arabia on August 14, but when Deontay Wilder's arbitration case ruled in favour of a Fury-Wilder trilogy fight, they both had to pursue other opponents.

Now Joshua is expected to fight his mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk towards the end of the summer with Fury's trilogy with Wilder pencilled in for July 24 in Las Vegas.

And Hearn revealed Joshua's reaction when he broke the news.

"These people just expected you to fail," he told Behind the Gloves. "They wanted you to fail and they didn't think you could pull it off but you did.

"They were going to use you as a scapegoat, say 'Matchroom couldn't deliver it' and move on, but we did deliver it and Tyson Fury came out and announced the fight.

You can see by the internet responses that you've got to be quite thick if you can't realise there's one team that one team was trying to make this fight happen and one team that wasn't."

Joshua, aside from engaging in a very public war of words on Twitter with Fury, has remained relatively quiet since the fight was cancelled last week.

But Hearn has been vocal in his unhappiness with Team Fury's handling of the event, which would have been the biggest fight of either man's careers.

"I saw Frank Warren's comments that I knew the arbitration was going on," he added. "Of course I did, but we were told from the start that would have absolutely no bearing.

"Bob Arum was saying 'don't worry, don't worry I've got it all under control,' but if you look back and realise the negativity on day one from their side, saying it won't happen in the summer or that we wouldn't get the money for a site deal.

"We kept ticking those boxes, and they had to do something."

However, Hearn has said that the 2012 Olympic gold medalist may surrender his belt after growing tired of fighting mandatories on a constant basis.

"The WBO ordered the [Usyk] fight," Hearn explained. "And we've got until next Tuesday or something to reach an agreement or it will go to purse bids.

"It is the most likely fight for us, we are talking to other people as well about other fights, but the whole aim is to become undisputed and all AJ has ever done is try to make the undisputed fight and box off mandatories to keep the belts.

"The feeling now is kind of 'how much longer do you have to do that?'"

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxin...heory-24205144

[Mark TKO]

John Fury saying he’s told Tyson to give up the belt and just fight Joshua fearing complacency and not being on his game for another Wilder fight.

I tend to agree with John Fury here. I don’t like this.

Who’d take Usyk or Wilder seriously if they fought for vacated belts ?

It’s the same old argument that’s been going 30 plus years. Elite fighters who are head and shoulders above their peers have the power. Use it.

Goodnight

[Master]

Tyson Fury v Deontay Wilder: John Fury wants son to give up belt to fight Anthony Joshua

Tyson Fury should give up his WBC belt to avoid fighting Deontay Wilder and face Anthony Joshua instead, his father John says.

A unification fight with Joshua was set to happen on 14 August in Saudi Arabia.

But it fell through when Deontay Wilder's team won an arbitration hearing stating the American had a right to a third fight with Fury.

"I've told him, in a phone conversation, to chuck the belt in the bin," John Fury told BT Sport.

"Let them have it, come back and fight AJ on the 14 August like was planned. But I'm nobody unfortunately so it falls on deaf ears."

The much anticipated fight between Fury and Joshua would have seen the pair contest all four world titles for the first time in the sport's history.

Fury is the WBC champion while Joshua has the WBO, WBA and IBF belts.

Instead, Fury must now switch his focus to facing Wilder in Las Vegas on 24 July.

John Fury fears the rushed nature of the rematch could derail his son's fight preparations and damage his chances of winning.

"For my money, it's a mistake," he added.

"Anything rushed is no good and that's been rushed. He was fighting AJ, I want him to fight AJ, I've no interest in Deontay Wilder, so why's he going to fight Wilder?

"I'm just concerned whether Tyson can raise his game for Wilder, whether he gets complacent, makes a mistake. It's got every chance of going wrong out there because I don't like how it's been handled."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/57289495

[Mark TKO]

Thanks for adding some context to my previous post.

Much appreciated

[Master]

Anthony Joshua sides with Tyson Fury’s dad in dispute over postponed fight

Joshua has said he agrees with his rival's father - who was critical of how the WBC champion handled the fallout from their cancelled fight

Tyson Fury's dad John has been critical of his son's handling of his fight with Anthony Joshua, and it appears he has an ally in the world champion.

Joshua and Fury had signed a contract to fight in Saudi Arabia on August 14, but early last week arbitration ruled that the 'Gypsy King' would have to have a trilogy match with Deontay Wilder first, which was signed within days.

And Joshua has now sided with Fury's father, who questioned the speed at which a deal was made for the Wilder rematch, with Tyson signing a contract on Saturday following a Monday evening ruling.

Taking to his snapchat stories, Joshua linked to Fury's BT Sport interview, saying: "I got a lot of time for this interview, good listen.

"Some massive statements have been made if you listen carefully. I would want to sit down with J.F. [John Fury], have a Guinness and talk fighting."

Fury's father 'Big John' told BT Sport this week that he feels 'yes men' have taken over his son's camp, and that he is not making the right choices.

He said: "While I'm alive and fit and able I want to do the best for Tyson, but he is obviously in a different league now, he has 20,000 yes men around him.

"This is what happens when you get to the top, he's got a lot of leeches and hangers-on out there and you can see what's happening in America with him, that's appalling work isn't it?

"It's diabolical, you're geared up to fight one man and at the eleventh hour [it gets taken away], and within 24 hours it's all sorted and you're signing a contract [to fight someone else] in the hall of a boxing venue.

"They're around him like locusts, how can you think straight with all that around you?"

He would have recommended that his son return to the UK and assess the situation with those closest to him, as opposed to hastily signing to fight Wilder, just days after the shock arbitration ruling.

Fury stands to lose tens of millions of pounds by fighting Wilder, instead of organising a step aside payment for the American so he could open the door to restoring the £150m pound deal to face Joshua in the Middle East.

"It's a mistake," his father continued. "We can blame his team can't we, nobody else, anything rushed is no good and that's been rushed.

"I want him to fight AJ, there's no interest in fighting Wilder, so why is he fighting Wilder? I told him in a phone conversation that he should chuck the belt in the bin, let them have it.

"He should come back and fight AJ on August 14 as was planned, but who am I? I'm nobody unfortunately; a voice that only a certain amount of people hear.

"I don't drive a Rolls Royce or live in a castle so it falls on deaf ears doesn't it?"

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxin...furys-24210772

[Master]

Frank Warren's damning Eddie Hearn accusation after Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua collapse

The details of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua's £200million encounter were finally agreed in April, but months of back and forth at the negotiating table came crashing down within weeks

Tyson Fury's promoter, Frank Warren, claims Eddie Hearn contributed to the downfall of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua's undisputed mega-fight with his regular updates on negotiations.

Queensbury boss Warren also accused Matchroom opposite number Hearn, who represents Joshua, of breaking strict confidentiality agreements while talks were taking place.

The details of Fury and Joshua's £200million encounter were finally agreed in April, with an August date set and a venue located in Saudi Arabia.

But months of back and forth at the negotiating table came crashing down in mid-May as an arbitration panel ruled Fury must face previous opponent Deontay Wilder in a third fight.

Hearn has since claimed he cannot trust Warren or Fury's US promoter, Bob Arum, after the collapse of the all-British showdown.

But Warren has returned fire at his rival promoter, highlighting alleged breaches of the confidentiality agreement which could have contributed to the widely-unpopular arbitration verdict.

"At the start of the year, all parties involved in the fight - fighters, promoters, managers - all signed a contract as to how the negotiations would take place," said Warren.

"In that agreement there was a clause that made it very clear there was an arbitration situation going on as far as Tyson is concerned - so everyone was aware of it and that we were awaiting the outcome of that.

"There was another clause in there regarding confidentiality and that we would make announcements together, so that we would all be on the same page.

"Within a very short space of time, Eddie Hearn breached that agreement by making announcements.

"Every week there was something, announcements about announcements, the fight is done and so forth.

"That was totally untrue. The fight wasn't done, it wasn't signed and every time I did an interview I just said the truth.

"All these announcements, that were being made on a regular basis by Hearn, I don't think helped and caused a lot of confusion."

WBC champion Fury is contractually obliged to face Wilder for a third time after their draw in December 2018 and the Gypsy King's victory in February 2020.

But Warren claims there is a similar situation regarding unified champion Joshua and the mandatory challenger for his WBO heavyweight belt, Oleksandr Usyk.

"Usyk had written to the WBO - and subsequently all parties concerned - saying that they will be suing if the fight goes ahead," he added.

"So even if we had won the arbitration we would still be sued by Usyk. There would have been an action and they would have been looking for injunctions to stop it.

"So that wasn't dealt with or brought to anybody's attention. Pot, kettle and all that from Hearn.

"One minute he is telling everybody I'm not involved at all in the negotiations - and now it is my fault."

With Fury set to face Wilder in trilogy bout in late July, talks are underway for AJ to face former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk this summer, with a British venue touted.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxin...fight-24217244