Frank Warren has revealed talks remain ongoing for Tyson Fury to face Anthony Joshua despite the champion declaring he will move on.
Fury stated that he would shelve his retirement plans to make a comeback and fight Oleksandr Usyk but it was expected that fight will now be delayed until next year, so offered bitter rival Joshua the chance to challenge for a title.
'AJ' accepted the offer and it appeared that the pair would meet on December 3 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff with the contract sent over to the challenger.
However Fury elected to issue a deadline which expired yesterday, which saw the 'Gypsy King' reveal his plans to move on and instead face former feud subject Manuel Charr. Despite Fury claiming on social media that the fight was off, his promoter Warren remains hopeful that the contract will be signed and the fight will take place.
“We’re trying to get it done, we’re working very hard to get it over the line," Warren told talkSPORT. "If everyone agreed everything, it would be a huge undertaking, but we could do it that way. Tyson has told me what he wants. They’ve had the contract for ten days and he’s lost patience with it. We’re trying to make it work and we had a good meeting today so we’ll see what happens.
“We’re waiting for it [the contract] to come back, it’s not come back, the contract, and we’re waiting for it to come back. We’ve agreed certain things, we’re waiting for it to come back and we’ve been waiting for ten days, so I’ve got no idea. There’s nothing as far as we’re concerned. We thought we’d got it over the line, more or less.
"They’ve got the contract, they’ve got to come back to us now. There’s been a lot of conversations, but they’ve not come back. We’re not that far away from December 3. We’ve got to get it up on sale. The venue’s booked but there’s a lot of organisation involved."
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A number of alternative options could be available for Fury but it appears he has his eyes on Charr, who he clashed with during a 2017 meeting outside of the ring. Fury took to social media to declare that he would no longer face Joshua after he issued a deadline of yesterday at the weekend when attending Joe Joyce's win over friend Joseph Parker.
The 34-year-old champion said during a video: “Well, guys, it’s official – D-Day has come and gone. It’s gone past 5 o’clock Monday [in the UK]. No contract has been signed [by Joshua]. It’s officially over for Joshua. He is now out in the cold, with the wolfpack. Forget about it. Idiot! Coward! Always knew he didn’t have the minerals to fight ‘The Gypsy King.’ Good luck with your career and your life. End of [story].”
