TYSON FURY has been blamed for Anthony Joshua fight talks falling through due to his “naivety and arrogance.”
The heavyweight stars saw a deal to face off in an all-British blockbuster on December 3 fall by the wayside.
Opposing promoters went from negotiating to finger pointing in a matter of days.
But ex-world champion Johnny Nelson has accused Fury, 34, of forcing the fight into collapse by imposing impossible deadlines.
He told iFL TV: “It’s down to ignorance. The fight’s been thrown out, it’s been accepted by both fighters.
“Tyson is then saying if it’s not done by then, this day, it’s off. You can’t do that.
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“You can’t say, ‘You signed that. Don’t look at these details. Don’t look at the small print. Don’t look at any of that. Just sign it. If you don’t sign it today, it’s off.’
“You can’t do that. It doesn’t exist. Who would do that? So, it’s down to inexperience, naivety, and arrogance.
“So that would be at the feet of Tyson Fury because, as far as I know, they [Team Joshua] haven’t refused anything.
“As far as I know, they signed and said, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it. We’ve got to check this out. Thank you. Yes, that can happen.’
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“There’s no, ‘No, I’m not fighting you.’ There’s no demand after demand, which I’m hearing.
“I think the majority of the people would think Fury because even his own team haven’t really said otherwise, as in Queensberry.”
Fury is now set to face Derek Chisora, 38, in a trilogy bout in December despite his pair of convincing wins in 2011 and 2014.
Meanwhile Joshua could also return in December, building back after consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk, 35.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk