Tyson Fury has branded Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn as “idiots” and “reptiles” because of their botched negotiations.
Hearn tried to negotiate a step-aside deal with Fury for Joshua, which would have allowed the Gypsy King to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed world heavyweight title.
Fury claims the deal fell through at the last minute because Joshua and Hearn demanded £5million more than the £15m on offer.
He will now defend his WBC heavyweight crown against Dillian Whyte, probably at Wembley on April 23, and is angry with Joshua and Hearn’s behaviour.
“Let’s just say that didn’t happen because one party came back on the final day and said ‘I want X amount of millions more or I’m not doing it’ and Big T said ‘stick the X amount of millions up your rear end’,” said Fury.
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“So yeah, it was very complicated and stressful for me to deal with these idiots.
“I don’t like all this backwards and forwards and all this snakey behaviour. They’re like rattlesnakes in the grass, they say one thing and mean another, I don’t like that.
“What you see on the tin is what you get with me.
“If I bark and growl, I’m probably going to bite you, but if I’m wagging my tail then you know I’m not.
“These are like reptiles, you never know what’s going to happen with them.”
Fury, 33, also took aim at Whyte and claims he is “a coward” because he is taking so long to sign their fight contract after calling him out for years.
Fury’s UK promoter Frank Warren won the purse bids for the contest and he does not understand why the Body Snatcher has still not put pen to paper with the February 19 deadline looming.
The Traveller claims Whyte is wasting his time if he is trying to get inside his head.
“He’s had a lot to say over the years and he’s had a lot to say over the last six months, I wasn’t going to fight him, that I was a coward and that I was going to fight someone else,” said Fury.
“Now the fight has been put on his toes, he’s gone absolutely silent and who’s the coward now? His white feathers are showing.
“I think he’s trying some mind games, but he’s messing with the king of mind games.”
Fury was speaking at the launch of his own energy drink, Furocity, and he claims he has turned down gambling, alcohol and drug endorsements worth “tens of millions of dollars” because those products jeopardise people’s mental health.
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“I don’t advertise gambling, I don’t advertise alcohol, I don’t advertise drugs because all three of those things lead to mental health struggles, which can lead to suicide,” he said.
“So for me to get a few extra quid in my bank account to put people into a mental health struggle, no thank you.
“ Tyson Fury is entering the energy drink market and we don’t do things by half measures, we only aim for the first position.”
