Anthony Joshua will not be in attendance for Tyson Fury 's world heavyweight title fight with Dillian Whyte on Saturday night.
Fury offered Joshua two tickets to his WBC clash with Whyte at Wembley, also offering Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn to be ringside for the fight. Joshua has not taken up his domestic rival's offer and is instead flying off to Dubai on Saturday to begin a "deload week".
"Mumzy off to Nigeria to do some charity work for the community, I'm heading to Dubai for a seven day deload week. See you all soon," he posted on his Snapchat story.
Fury even offered Joshua a role in his corner team whilst inviting him to the fight. Joshua is rooting for interim champion Whyte to hand Fury his first professional loss despite their ongoing rivalry which dates back to their amateur days.
Joshua had been encouraged to be ringside for the fight by retired boxers Frank Bruno and Carl Frampton to help promote a bout with Fury down the line. "Even if he doesn’t want to help sell it he should be there watching and sussing out possible future opponents," Bruno said.
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"Yes I think he should be [ringside]. It builds huge fights between them all. I don’t know if Frank will give him any tickets though," Frampton joked.
A fight between Fury and Joshua has been heavily sought for years but is still yet to take place. The pair were signed to fight last August, but a US arbitration case cancelled the booking as Deontay Wilder was entitled to his trilogy with Fury.
Joshua went on to lose his belts to Oleksandr Usyk as Fury knocked out Wilder to solidify himself as the best heavyweight in the world. Adamant he will retire after his fight with Whyte, Fury thinks the buzz around his potential clash with Joshua has fizzled out.
"It was the most sought after fight when he was an unbeaten champion, or even when he had one loss, but when you're getting beat by blown up middleweights it isn't a spicy fight anymore." he told iFL TV.
"Do a poll to see how many people think he could beat me, none. I hope he wins every belt there is and becomes a great champion, but it's going to be none of my business because it's none of my concern."
