Fury wants two-fight year, claims Joshua negotiations haven’t progressed

“The Gypsy King” hasn’t fought since stopping Deontay Wilder last February

Tyson Fury, out of action for over a year and lacking a date for his planned clash with Anthony Joshua, tells ESPN that he’s fighting twice in 2021 no matter what.

“They’ve had a full year to try and make this fight happen. Since the last Wilder fight, even before the Wilder fight, they were talking about a fight potentially between me and Joshua. They’ve had a full year to make something happen, and it hasn’t happened as of yet. It is what it is. We’re no further forward today than we were a year ago.

“The way [COVID-19] is at the moment, I don’t think [negotiations] got much to do with the fighters. It’s to do with the venue, date, place, site fees. It’s to do with everything but the fight itself. ... But Top Rank has to give me two fights this year. I will fight two times on ESPN. I don’t care who it is.”

Eddie Hearn claimed 10 days ago that they were “finalizing the finer details.” On the 5th, he said that they “hope[d] for an official announcement” within two weeks, a deadline that’s come and gone without a trace.

After a long, unproductive stretch of time spent trying to put together a trilogy match with Deontay Wilder, Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO) elected to stay busy with a December 5th matchup against unbeaten Agit Kabayel. That collapsed when Wilder’s team entered mediation to enforce the rematch clause, which Fury and his team insisted had expired.

Now, Fury faces the prospect of entering the biggest fight of his career at the end of a massive layoff.

Whatever comes of this, we’ll keep you guys appraised.