Tyson Fury's brother expects the champion's potential fight with Anthony Joshua to collapse once again.
Fury revealed last month he would be shelving his retirement plans to return to the ring and pursue an undisputed title clash with Oleksandr Usyk. However with that fight now delayed, Fury decided to offer Joshua the chance to meet for his WBC heavyweight crown despite his rival losing to the Ukrainian for a second time.
Joshua has since accepted the offer and has received the contract from Fury's team, with just minor details being adjusted before next week's final deadline. However Fury's brother Shane expects the 'Gypsy King' to instead defend his belt against Manuel Charr, given the history of fights falling at the final hurdle.
"If I had to put my money on it I would say it’s not happening," he told Boxing Social. "I’d be happy if it did get made because I’d be very confident. We’re very confident in that [the win] but I’m not that confident it’s going to happen. It all boils down to if both men want it, and if both men don’t want it and one’s doing it for the wrong reasons, it’ll never happen.
"So, we’ll see. They need to jog on. Whoever’s holding it up or whatever’s holding it up, it needs either to be fixed or it needs to be forgotten about. It it doesn’t happen now, I don’t think it will ever happen, because the simple reason being Tyson won’t be giving Joshua the chance. He’s going to be probably fighting Manuel Charr – [who] I could have a good tussle with myself – and have an easy run out.
“Unless Joshua can happen, because Joshua’s a big name and he’s a good scalp – and he can easily tip Tyson over because it’s heavyweight boxing and he’s very good – but, if that doesn’t happen it’s going to be a run out for Tyson, and the worse opponent the better.”
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Fury and Joshua were set to meet for all four belts last year, but the fight collapsed despite contracts being signed with the 'Gypsy King' instead forced to face Deontay Wilder. A year on, the prospect is different for the challenger, who has lost his belts and been beaten twice by Usyk.
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn is more confident of the fight taking place and is hopeful an agreement can be signed prior to the deadline. "We received the contract a couple of days ago," Hearn told DAZN Boxing. "It wasn't as we expected but we've gone back and now it's getting to be as we expected. It's very positive, we're not saying anything negative, they're not saying anything negative - I've never spoke to Frank Warren so I'm not sure that would have worked well."
