Tyson Fury has dismissed rumours of a "bulls***" four-man tournament featuring himself and Anthony Joshua.
The 'Gypsy King' has yet to step in the ring this year after month of negotiations with Oleksandr Usyk over an undisputed fight collapsed at the eleventh hour with no agreement reached. Fury's future has yet to be entirely clarified but it is expected he will instead target a return of July in a voluntary title defence which could be against Andy Ruiz Jr or Zhilei Zhang.
However last week radio host Simon Jordan suggested that negotiations were underway for a four-man tournament featuring Fury, who would face Usyk, while Joshua could step in the ring with Deontay Wilder on the same night. Wilder's trainer Malik Scott confirmed negotiations were underway, with Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn also admitting that Saudi Arabia had expressed interest in the idea.
But the WBC champion quickly dismissed the fan-friendly format, writing on his Instagram story: "I can confirm that these rumours are absolute bulls***." Fury had already posted earlier in the day of himself returning to the gym alongside training partner Joseph Parker which sparked speculation that he could be looking at a return date.
The four-man tournament would be a hugely appealing night for fans, and would solve many of the heavyweight riddles that boxing has been dying to know against the top candidates. This could have finally led to Joshua's long-awaited British grudge match with Fury if both men came through their proposed difficult tests.
The 'Gypsy King' hasn't fought since stopping Derek Chisora in a routine trilogy bout in December, but fought twice last year having also ousted Dillian Whyte in a mandatory defence. A potential showdown with Joe Joyce was touted prior to his defeat to Zhilei Zhang at the weekend, which leaves Fury struggling to find an opponent.
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And Fury's promoter Frank Warren has confirmed that the date is pencilled in but efforts will begin to be made to identify an alternative opponent. "Joe's got that rematch clause," Warren explained. "And if he takes it, it's obviously going to be a complication with anything to discuss alternative fights for him right now. And at the end of the day, Tyson's the boss when it comes down to what he wants to do.
"If he wants to fight this summer, he'll let us know, we'll try to make it happen. We need to know pretty quickly to invoke something in the during the summer. Especially if we're going to try and do something in a stadium in the UK, which is where he would need to fight to try and make it work here. But yeah, opponents, choices, that will all come down to a conversation with Tyson."
