Anthony Joshua accused of bottling Fury battle as AJ ‘chooses to not take bout’

Frank Warren has accused Anthony Joshua of ‘choosing’ to not battle Tyson Fury in September. Fury claimed on social media that Joshua had been despatched a draft contract for a blockbuster heavyweight bout at Wembley Stadium.

Joshua and Fury have each stated they need the battle to occur. However, neither celebration has been capable of comply with the phrases.

Fury has regularly known as Joshua out over social media, together with one Instagram story this week by which he claimed a contract had been despatched to the 33-year-old’s staff. It has been reported that Fury has lined up different opponents, together with UFC champion Jon Jones.

Asked to clear up the scenario, Fury’s promoter Warren stated: “Let me clarify what has actually happened. Last week, a written proposal was sent to Matchroom for AJ to fight Tyson in September. 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.”

Speaking to talkSPORT, Warren added: “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. There is a space open in August but they basically do not want to do the fight.

“That is what happened. 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 and that is where we are at.”

“The terms were agreed over a fight to take place but the only reason it didn’t take place is because Frank Smith of Matchroom that the fight would never have happened anyway because AJ wasn’t ready,” Warren continued.