By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury has rejected the request by Anthony Joshua to fight on December 17th. Fury says Joshua must agree to fight on November 26th or December 3rd, as those are “take or leave” dates.
If Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) doesn’t agree to either of those dates, Fury says he’ll have missed his chance because he’s going to move on and face Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed championship in February or March.
Understandably, Joshua is trying to get as much time as possible to both rest & prepare for the Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) fight, as he’s coming off a loss to Usyk on August 20th.
Fury weaseling an extra two to three weeks in rushing Joshua back to the ring suggests that he wants to get him ill-prepared & still worn out from his grueling fight against Usyk.
It says a lot about Fury that he’s trying to get Joshua back into the ring as quickly as possible after his loss. There obviously has to be a lack of confidence on Fury’s part for him to be trying to get Joshua into the ring as fast as possible.
“Nov 26th at Wembley or Dec 3rd in Cardiff. That’s the dates, take or leave,” said Tyson Fury on Instagram about his potential fight with Anthony Joshua.
Another take it or leave it offer from Fury. If you’re Joshua, you got to be tempted to walk away from negotiations after listening to Fury’s ham-handed negotiation tactics.
When the shoe was on the other foot, you weren’t hearing Joshua give the needy Fury take it or leave it offers the last time they attempted to negotiate.
“I have Nov 26th at Wembley or Dec 3rd [at Principality]. One is 11 weeks, and one is 12 weeks,” said Fury to talkSPORT. “If a professional athlete who’s shredded all year round can’t get himself in shape in three months, there’s a problem.”
“The opportunity is there, and it won’t be after this because I will be busy fighting Usyk for the undisputed championship next year.”
“He’s coming off a 12th round fight; he’s fit. He’s got three months of preparation for this fight…there is no real reason it doesn’t happen unless he doesn’t feel he is up to the task,” said Fury.
