WBC champion Tyson Fury has revealed Anthony Joshua has missed the deadline for a potential fight with him this winter. Contracts are in the hands of Joshua and Matchroom Boxing and reports suggest the television networks involved have been poring over the finer details. But the wheels of boxing turn too slowly for ‘The Gyspy King’, who has arbitrarily decided the fight can’t happen. Cutting off the talks mid-stream and blaming ‘AJ’ for the delay, Fury has now threatened to meet has-been Mahmoud Charr. It is a fight nobody beyond the Fury team and Charr’s immediate family want to watch.
Fury has done this before. He goaded Joshua into public talks over a fight for the undisputed championship last year. With the bout agreed, Deontay Wilder activated the mandatory rematch clause that everyone involved with the Fury operation knew he had and was planning to use. The collapse of the two-fight deal for all four major titles was of course blamed on Joshua. This in spite of the fight being essentially illegal, a fact only Fury was privy to when talks with Joshua opened.
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The constant invocation of Charr’s name suggests his involvement has been in the back-pocket for a while. The fighter himself has even come out in interviews saying he expects to land a fight with the WBC champion should the ‘AJ’ talks nosedive. It is a truly bizarre choice from Fury, and the first real test of how far his adoring public are willing to stoop. If they pay for this bout, against a fighter unranked in any world top 15, they will pay for anything.
Fury seems to believe he is showing Joshua up here. That by kicking the legs out from under this superfight, the Olympic gold medalist is the one who looks silly. After all, he didn’t sign the contract! But the reality of boxing is not as simple as two names on a piece of paper. Matchroom and Queensberry, who handle Fury, are promotional rivals. They each have deals with different television outlets, DAZN for Matchroom and BT Sport for Queensberry. Boxing isn’t as simple as “here’s the purse split, here’s the venue, let’s go”. It hasn’t been for the vast majority of the gloved era. Joshua couldn’t produce a signed contract yet, even if he wanted to. Not with so much going on at boardroom level to get this fight made.
Fury making bold claims about his rivals at the most opportune moment is nothing new. He called out Oleksandr Usyk in the immediate aftermath of his victory over Joshua last month. The Ukrainian star saying he would take a rest until next year rather than accept a winter date was sold by Fury as Usyk ducking him. Fury has been out of the ring for five months, during which he has claimed multiple retirements and announced several comebacks. The fact the WBC champion would take his unified counterpart wanting four months off as cowardice is ridiculous. It is, however, all part of the show. It’s Fury and his supporters vs the world. Reality be damned.
Taking out all the hearsay and social media drama, this fiasco seems set to just leave us with a fight. If that fight is Fury vs Charr then it is a truly dreadful one. ‘Diamond Boy’ enjoyed his career peak when Vitali Klitschko walloped him in four rounds for the WBC belt ten years ago. In the years since he has been stopped by cruiserweight Mairis Briedis, Alexander Povetkin and beaten by decision against fringe contender Johann Duhaupas. His WBA ‘Regular’ title reign was farcical, even by that belt’s lowly standards. He was allowed to keep the spurious championship during a four-year hiatus and drugs ban and defend it upon his return against Christopher Lovejoy, a fighter who had spent a career in four-and-six rounders.
If ‘The Gypsy King’ truly has had enough of the lengthy negotiations to face Joshua, then fair enough. But laying the blame at Joshua’s door is PR spin at its worst. Using the subsequent publicity to try and get fans to accept a dismal challenger to your world title is beyond the pale. There are plenty of talented, worthy challengers for the WBC strap if ‘AJ’ is off the menu.
Joe Joyce made his claim on Saturday when knocking out Fury’s friend and training partner, Joseph Parker. That in itself makes a fight between the pair an easy sell. Andy Ruiz Jr has won two on the bounce since losing the world title to Joshua and would sell tickets. Daniel Dubois is an exciting puncher that would provide a domestic angle and a belt, albeit the daft WBA ‘Regular’ strap. Filip Hrgovic, Frank Sanchez and an Otto Wallin rematch all have more to offer than a Charr bout too. For a fighter with designs on being seen as the greatest heavyweight ever, fighting Charr is unforgivable.
Too often in boxing we are denied the fights that make the most sense. What appeals to the paying fan is not always what appeals to the fighters involved. Unlike in more regulated sports, where the best are set upon a path towards the best, boxing is the Wild West. You take what you can get by any means necessary. This means that often the finest bouts are cast aside for the easiest route or the highest risk-free gains. Will Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua be lost to the unregulated mire? Perhaps. Did it need to be? Not at all. This fight continues to make the most sense for each man at this point in history. Let’s hope they each realise that before it’s too late.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
