Tyson Fury has pulled a major U-turn regarding a fight with Anthony Joshua and has confirmed that fight talks are back on after his Monday deadline was missed.
The world heavyweight champion has laid out his terms once again and declared that all issues around purses, who is promoting and, crucially, the broadcasters in the UK and America, have been sorted. He has declared that Joshua must have the contract signed today, but has returned to the table thanks to being talked down by promoter Frank Warren.
Fury has been flirting with a bout against former WBA 'regular' champion Mahmoud Charr for his December 3 date in Cardiff, but fans are much more keen on him finally facing Joshua instead. There was uproar after the Brit began claiming he would face his German rival, with fans branding him a "clown" and theorising that he was never serious about fighting Joshua.
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
But he is now back in negotiations, laying out the story in a Twitter video where he said: "Right, Anthony Joshua, where do we stand? So the deadline was Monday, Frank Warren asked me and convinced me to let it carry on for another couple of days. Today is Thursday and even though I knew you wouldn't sign this contract I allowed Frank to continue.
"He was doing meetings with your teams, the broadcasters and all that and now we have BT, DAZN and ESPN all on the same page. They are happy with everything, they're all happy, ready to rock-and-roll. You guys asked for a lot of stuff, you wanted to be co-promoters when you're a voluntary challenger, guess what? I said 'give it to them, let them be co-promoters'.
"You wanted full transparency even though you're not an equal shareholder in this party. You know what I said? Give 'em full transparency, I've got nothing to hide, I'm not trying to rob anybody, I've never robbed anybody of a penny in my life, so now you've got full transparency and everything is clean and fair."
Do you believe that Anthony Joshua will sign to fight Tyson Fury today? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
And Fury has declared that Joshua now holds the cards, and must sign today or give up the opportunity to fight for the one world title he has never had his hands on during his career. If not, the implication appears to be that a Charr fight will be hastily put together.
"Now, Joshua, the ball is really in your court, son," he added. "Everybody is done, if you're a man and you've got any sort of dignity and pride about you, you'll get this contract signed today. There's no more days, weeks, you've had two weeks and you still haven't signed it. Show the public that you're really a big coward and don't sign it, I don't care.
"Either way, if you sign it now or you don't it makes no difference to me at all, you're a beaten man and I'm a world champion. I'm chucking you a massive bone, but I know I can punch your face in so I'm willing to give you an opportunity. There's nothing more to do, everyone is happy.
"Get your team on to mine, they will be available all day, like they've been available the last two weeks. Get this contract signed today, you big p**** and let the British fans have what they want. There's no more running, you have to fight me, you cannot escape, the Fury is coming, b****."
