Anthony Joshua said ‘people are starting to see’ what goes on behind the scenes in negotiations with Tyson Fury after his fight with Oleksandr Usyk fell through.
Fury and Usyk were scheduled to meet on 29 April at Wembley to crown the heavyweight division’s first undisputed champion in 23 years only for the fight to collapse in spectacular fashion.
Promoters Frank Warren and Alexander Krassyuk confirmed on Wednesday night the fight is now definitely off despite late efforts to salvage a deal. Contractual terms for a rematch are thought to be what led to the collapse.
Joshua is no stranger to strained negotiations with Fury. The two agreed what would have been their own historic undisputed fight in 2021 only for Deontay Wilder’s successful legal bid to force a trilogy fight with ‘The Gypsy King’ to scupper those plans.
Joshua then fought and lost to Usyk twice before being offered a shot at Fury’s WBC title last year. Despite accepting a 60-40 split in the champion’s favour, the fight never happened with Fury going onto fight Derek Chisora for a third time.
Joshua is now preparing to take on Jermaine Franklin on 1 August and having negotiated two fights with Usyk with no issues in recent years, has reacted to news of boxing’s biggest fight falling by the wayside.
“I’ll be real with you. That Fury situation, as much as I love to entertain that gossip, I have been there twice,” Joshua said.