AJ's promoter Eddie Hearn says: "In our mind, Tyson Fury is not fighting Anthony Joshua. We're more than happy to continue those conversations but what we've been told is the deadline has passed."
Monday 3 October 2022 22:20, UK
Negotiations for the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua heavyweight super-fight are breaking down.
Eddie Hearn, Joshua's promoter, believes the fight won't be confirmed, at least for the mooted December 3 date.
However, he insists that they remain open to further talks.
"As far as we're concerned the fight's off. We're happy to continue the discussions," Hearn said.
"In our mind, he's not fighting Anthony Joshua. We're more than happy to continue those conversations but what we've been told is the deadline is passed and so have the entire country.
"We have sent the final version of the contract back, they've come back with points and we were told that the fight is off by the man himself."
Fury issued a public deadline for Joshua to sign the contract to face Fury last week. No further progress in making the fight has been made since then.
"They gave us terms ultimately and a date they thought we wouldn't accept. We did accept that. We were ready to go. If they were to sign the contract on Monday, they had a fight. We were asked to agree the deal by Monday, then we were asked to agree it by Wednesday. We got the comments back on Wednesday. We were never going to sign the fight [then], and we were told the fight's off," Hearn said.
"It's still there. It's still open for discussion. But we're not going to play a game with a bloke that's just coming out telling AJ it's off, and then he's a dosser, he's got to sign it, etc.
"Have your fight if you fight someone else, and we'll do our thing and we'll see what happens."
If Joshua's team is looking to go in another direction for his next fight, Fury will also have other options for a fight in December. Heavyweight contender Mahmoud Charr has already spoken to Sky Sports to call for Fury to sign a contract to fight him.
Sky Sports News has contacted Fury's promoters Queensberry and Top Rank for comment.
