ANTHONY JOSHUA has snubbed a historic Battle of Britain with Tyson Fury in order to throw down with Deontay Wilder, according to Frank Warren.
Fury got boxing fans’ hopes of the long-awaited clash finally coming to fruition last month by claiming to have sent over a draft contract for a September showdown to Joshua’s representatives.
AJ’s team, however, quickly dismissed the claim, insisting no preliminary contract had been sent their way.
Negotiations, however, did take place – although Joshua’s management nixed the historic fight by doubling down on their intention to face Wilder in Saudi Arabia this winter.
During an appearance on talkSPORT, the Queensberry Promotion’s chief Frank Warren: “Let me clarify what has actually happened.
“Last week, a written proposal was sent to Matchroom for ‘AJ’ to fight Tyson in September.
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“Eddie Hearn came back and spoke to my son George, who said it will take a couple of days to see where they are with it.
“A couple of days went by, and George met yesterday with AJ’s management company.
“They confirmed that AJ is fighting in Dubai in December, that is his preferred route.”
AJ promoter Eddie Hearn has earmarked August 12 for Joshua’s second outing of the year, provisionally reserving the O2 Arena.
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That has irked Warren, who added: “There is a space open in August, but they basically do not want to do the fight.
“That is what happened.”
Veteran prompter Warren was quick to walk back Fury’s claims of a preliminary contract being sent out.
But he insists the WBC king is still hellbent on throwing down with the former two-time unified heavyweight champion.
He said: “When Tyson said there was a draft contract, what happened is we had prepared a draft contract the last time we had negotiations.
“So, there was nothing really to be concerned about in terms of negotiations; it was just if they wanted the fight or not.
“So, the situation is: Tyson is desperate to make the fight happen, as he was against [Oleksandr] Usyk.
“But AJ has chosen not to take the fight. That is where we are at.”
Joshua’s decision to pursue a fight with Wilder is the THIRD time a dream fight with Fury has fallen through.
The pair were due to throw down in the summer of 2021 after agreeing a two-fight deal.
But their back-to-back bouts were scuppered when Wilder successfully won his arbitration case for a trilogy fight with Fury.
Fury, 34, handed Joshua a shock world title lifeline last September just weeks after his fellow Brit’s second successive defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
AJ publicly accepted the offer but the fight didn’t come to fruition and Fury ended up fighting Derek Chisora in a much-lambasted trilogy fight.
Fury hasn’t set foot in the ring since that December dust-up, which he won via tenth-round TKO.
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The Wythenshawe warrior was due to face Usyk in a historic undisputed title fight but the bout went by the wayside following his string of unreasonable demands.
Joshua, meanwhile, was last in action in April – returning to the win column with a scrappy points victory over Jermaine Franklin.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
