Joshua not optimistic about fighting Tyson Fury after bout with Usyk collapse

Nigeria-born boxer Anthony Joshua has reacted to the news that Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk is reportedly off.

The Watford powerhouse believes it’s good that people are starting to see how difficult negotiations can be after coming under immense scrutiny in the past for fights with Fury and Deontay Wilder falling through.

Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas claims that the four-belt shoot-out collapsed due to Fury moving the goalposts in negotiations.

Discussions had stalled over the proposed purse split for the contest with Fury insisting he would not fight unless he received a 70 per cent lion’s share of the prize pot.

Usyk’s side felt this was unfair and requested a ‘fairer split’ but did eventually give in to Fury’s demands.

However, esteemed boxing insider Mike Coppinger, reports that Fury-Usyk fell apart as the two parties were unable to “agree on other material terms critical to the deal beyond the purse split”.

Joshua, who had a fight with Fury fall through most recently in December of last year, knows these frustrations all too well and insists he won’t be chasing a contest with his fellow countryman going forward.

“I cannot say I am just going to sit around and wait for this geezer,” he told the Daily Star. “There are other great fights out there I can have. Without Fury on my record, I will not wake up tomorrow and regret my whole boxing career. If he is on it, I am on it, if he is not, he is not. Whatever.”

He added: “I will be real, as much as I like to entertain that gossip and Fury situation, I have been there twice, and people don’t remember that. I was supposed to fight him before I fought Usyk, the first time, and he pulled out due to his legal case, the arbitration, with Wilder. That was all up in the air and done online.