Frank Warren has suggested Anthony Joshua’s next opponent after failing to get talks of a fight with Tyson Fury off the ground.
The Queensbury promoter stated last week that the ‘Gypsy King’ was “desperate” to line up a showdown with ‘AJ as the WBC champion searches for his next opponent’. However, Joshua is working towards making a domestic fight for August ahead of an expected bout with Deontay Wilder at the end of the year.
Given that several top contenders are seemingly out of the running to fight Fury, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn claimed that Filip Hrgovic would be a suitable opponent for the WBC belt. However, Warren has spun Hearn’s point back in Joshua’s direction and has called for the blame not to fall on Fury for failing to reach a fight agreement.
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“Who is Joshua going to fight in August? They’re slagging off Tyson who is offering him the fight on a 60/40 chance of fighting for the world title,” Warren told Talksport.
"You’re going to get 40 percent of the purse which you wouldn’t get if it went to purse bids. Don’t keep blaming Tyson! I’m not here banging the drum for Tyson.
“They are the facts and what the narrative should be now to AJ is, ‘Why aren’t you taking the fight?’ ‘Who are you going to fight?’ ‘If he’s not going to fight Tyson, why doesn’t he fight the other guy that’s in their camp, Hrgovic?’"
Hrgovic holds an unbeaten 15-0 record and is currently the mandatory challenger for the IBF title, following his decision win over Zhilei Zhang last year. Fury saw negotiations over a unification fight with Oleksandr Usyk fall through earlier this year, while Joshua has shut down suggestions that he is in talks over a rematch with Dilian Whyte for August.
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