Anthony Joshua has accused Tyson Fury of "lying" about the collapse of his undisputed heavyweight title fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury was pencilled-in to face fellow heavyweight champion Usyk in December on the same card as Joshua vs Deontay Wilder, but the fight fell through again after also being targeted for the end of April. Fury and Usyk's teams have pointed the finger at each other, but Joshua put the blame on his domestic rival while speaking at the press conference for his rematch against Dillian Whyte.
"You've seen the shenanigans in the heavyweight division even with Fury saying he was training for Usyk. SugarHill [Steward] come out and said 'I’m not training him, what do you mean I’m training him for a heavyweight championship fight?' You can see all of the lies that have been going on, so I don't waste my time with time wasters," Joshua said.
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Fury claimed he offered to fight Joshua in September after the undisputed bout fell through, but Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn denied receiving a contract and labelled the efforts as "desperate". Fury is now expected to face former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in an exhibition fight, which has led to calls from Usyk’s promoter for him to be stripped of his heavyweight title.
Joshua insisted that he would be facing heavier criticism from boxing fans if he was in Fury's shoes, later adding: "I leave it to the people's opinion but if that was me, what would people say? I'm going to start holding people accountable in the same way they hold me. Yes, Usyk didn't duck but Fury did duck."
Usyk even signed a deal with Saudi Arabian promotion Skills Challenge in the hopes of setting up his fight against Fury. The Brit's promoter Frank Warren is staying positive about the undisputed clash as he thinks it can take place in January. Usyk will first have to get past his mandatory WBA challenger Daniel Dubois, as the pair are scheduled to fight on August 26 in Poland.
Hearn remained critical of Fury’s pencilled-in fight against Ngannou but the promoter doesn’t think he should be stripped of his world title. “I think he should have a mandatory [challenger] put on him,” Hearn told Mirror Fighting. “I can’t knock the decision but I think it’s bad for boxing that he’s not fighting Usyk. Each to their own, can’t knock the guy for making a load of money in an easy fight and I don’t think the public will like it.”
