Anthony Joshua pulled out of his Battle of Britain fight with Tyson Fury after being told he would not get his preferred date for the contest, Eddie Hearn has revealed.
The saga over their heavyweight fight ended earlier this month as Joshua’s promoter spelled out his frustration with Fury’s social media tirades about the negotiations.
The ‘Gypsy King’ will now face Derek Chisora in December while Hearn wants to see his man take on Deontay Wilder in early 2023.
Joshua most recently fought in August, while Fury has been off since April, and the disagreement over his preparation time helped kill the fight - for which Hearn said he was not “devastated”.
“It’s probably a bit of everybody’s fault,” Hearn told talkSPORT.
“It’s a very complex situation for both teams, with TV networks.
“Listen, I don’t mind saying, AJ’s just coming off a defeat, he wanted December 17, but we agreed to December 3, he would have had to get back into the gym immediately, which he was going to do.
“I don’t sit here today, as someone who represents Anthony Joshua, devastated that fight didn’t happen.
“He wanted to take it, so I was all in, but it was a very quick turnaround for him in a fight of that magnitude.”
As the talks continued, Fury hit out at Joshua’s demands for an extended period of recovery and training following his second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
He stated in September: “I have November 26 at Wembley or December 3 [at Principality Stadium]. One is 11 weeks, and one is 12 weeks. If a professional athlete who’s shredded all year round can't get himself in shape in three months, there's a problem.”
