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Nick Parkinson
Anthony Joshua has said he is not rushing to call on Tyson Fury for his next fight after talks for Fury’s proposed bout with Oleksandr Usyk hit a standstill.
Former world heavyweight champion Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) has twice had negotiations with Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) break down and fail to produce a fight, despite a bout being valued at £200 million in 2020.
Joshua and WBC world heavyweight champion Fury failed to agree terms for a fight in December last year and sources have told ESPN that talks between Fury and Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) have also hit a roadblock.
The sides agreed on a 70-30 split in favour of Fury for the net revenue earlier this month for a clash to crown an undisputed world heavyweight champion at Wembley Stadium, London, on April 29. But the two teams could not agree other terms in the deal, and WBA, IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion Usyk has dropped out of his training camp.
Joshua, who fights American Jermaine Franklin (21-1, 14 KOs) in London on April 1 after back-to-back points losses to Usyk, blamed Fury for being too difficult to negotiate with.
He said: “I was supposed to fight him before I fought Usyk, the first time, and he pulled out due to his legal case, the arbitration, with Wilder. Then we had the one for this December [when talks also broke down].
“Will the fight with me and him get made? I don’t know. Look at all the s— they are going through now with this Usyk stuff. It’s just crazy.
“I don’t publicise things so it’s actually good that people are starting to see what goes on in negotiations.
“It’s good that people can actually see the s— that people have got to put up with to make a fight. [But] Me and Usyk got two successful fights done.”
If talks are not resumed, WBC world heavyweight champion Fury will be left looking for another opponent and no fight is more lucrative for him than to face Joshua. But the 33-year-old is not depending on it.
“I cannot say I am just going to sit around and wait for this geezer [Fury],” Joshua said. “There are other great fights out there I can have.
“Without Fury on my record I will not wake up tomorrow and regret my whole boxing career. If he is on it, I am on it, if he is not, he is not. Whatever.”