ANTHONY JOSHUA must decide by WEDNESDAY if he will accept a November Battle of Britain with Tyson Fury.
But the battered and bruised 32-year-old former world champ will have to rip up his brand new mega-money deal with broadcasters DAZN to make the fight happen on the Gypsy King’s terms and channel.
WBC champion Fury, 34, has made a more-than-generous offer of 60-40 per cent for the former two-time WBA, IBF and WBO boss to take a short-notice crack at his title, on the back of consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk.
The mid-November clash – on Fury’s backers BT Sport – would give AJ just around 10 weeks to prepare for the biggest fight in British boxing history, with him barely having recovered from the August 20 shootout with the 35-year-old Ukraine icon.
It’s a win-win deal for Fury, who either gets a big-money tilt at his rival when his confidence and bargaining power is at rock bottom or the chance to call AJ a coward for not accepting the terms.
But the minimal notice and exclusive rival broadcast deals means the deal is almost dead in the Thames before it has even got off the ground.
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Team Joshua believe the short notice and well-known TV commitments means the offer was always a bluff from the master manipulator. A source told us: “This is typical Fury.
“If it was a fair offer then AJ – who now has £150million in the bank and nothing to lose and he has never been more dangerous – could take it.
“But a November fight after Usyk on August 20 is totally unrealistic.”
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren was working on a December 17 undisputed decider against Usyk, until the Ukraine genius delayed with injury.
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And he reckons the offer he sent on Tuesday morning was more than fair, considering Joshua’s new predicament toward the wrong end of the heavyweight food chain.
He said: “We have got to a stage where we have initiated this and we have sent through what we are prepared to do to make this fight happen, then we will see if they want it.
“It will be in the UK in November. It’s perfect timing for AJ to accept it, it would take him a long time to get himself back into the world title scene so he should grab this with both hands.
“Usyk will not be ready until March so Tyson wants to fight before then.
“It’s not rocket science, we have presented the pot and they can decide if they want it or not. We have opened the door and let them in.”
But AJ promoter Eddie Hearn feels like the 6ft 9in undefeated Morecambe mastermind is playing tricks with fight fans and Christmas is the earliest this cracker could be pulled together.
He countered: “Fury’s outstanding at getting the public to believe absolute nonsense.
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“Personally, I don’t think he’s serious about it.
“But like I said, AJ would have no problem with taking this fight in December.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
