Fury accuses Joshua, Whyte of being greedy and manipulative
Fury himself says he got tired of all the back and forth between the various parties - as he was looking to schedule his return date sooner than later
British boxer Tyson Fury has accused Nigeria born former heavyweight champion of the world, Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte of being greedy.
The 33-year-old WBC titleholder from Manchester talked about the various “step aside” scenarios that came up during his negotiations to fight mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte.
There was talk that Fury could simply bypass the Jamaican-born, London native Whyte to face WBO/WBA/IBF/IBO champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine for a full heavyweight unification bout this spring, but that would have been contingent on getting permission from Joshua, who had a contractual rematch clause with Usyk, and Whyte.
In the end, with far too many variables at play, a deal for a step aside fell apart. Fury’s team blamed it on Joshua for asking for a larger fee.
Fury himself says he got tired of all the back and forth between the various parties - as he was looking to schedule his return date sooner than later.
Fury has been a one-fight-per-year fighter since 2020. Fury had originally pencilled himself in for a ring return in March. He is scheduled to face Whyte on April 23 in London.
“I was told [the step-aside deal] was real close,” Fury told IFL TV. “We were all ready to do our thing, sign, and do everything to make the fight happen. But they didn’t. It was a big load of crap. They were making so many demands. They wanted this, they wanted that. Whyte wanted bits and pieces. Joshua wanted these things. They were trying to control everything. The positive out of this is I get to do my fight April 23rd.
“I’m the top of the tree. I don’t wait for other people to decide what they’re going to do with my career. I fight on my times and my dates. When they become world heavyweight champion then they can determine when they want to fight."
According to Fury, Usyk - even before the conflict between Russia and Ukraine - was not going to be ready to enter the ring until at least May.
“With Uysk he couldn’t be ready until the end of May, so that wasn’t going to happen,” Fury said. "Dillian Whyte’s the mandatory, and he has to have that fight, so I’m looking forward to that.”
As for Joshua, the fall out pertaining to the step aside was a financial matter, said Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs). The 32-year-old Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) is headed for a rematch with 35-year-old Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) later this summer.
“The only reason this fight fell out [with Usyk] is ‘AJ’ wanted more money, last minute,” Fury said. “And he thought I was going to give him an extra $5 million.”
“He wanted me to clean up his dirty washing, didn’t ya big boy?” Fury continued. “Didn’t ya, you big boy lifter I’m a bit too smart for all that. I’m not cleaning anybody’s dirty washing. Deal with your own business.”
