Iranian Hulk has threatened Martyn Ford with legal action and piled the blame on his rival after their heavyweight fight was cancelled.
Ford was set to meet Iranian Hulk - real name Sajad Gharibi - at The O2 arena on April 30 after the event had been rescheduled once already from its original April 2 date. The British star released an official statement which appeared to suggest that his Iranian rival was the reason for the showdown being shelved.
However Gharibi has now released a statement blaming his opponent on Instagram, captioned: "Today I heard Ford doesn't want to fight, it is not me [and] not any other fighters. I never cancelled any fight between us but he doesn't want see me again! It is against the contract and my legal team have started looking at it.
"Actually 'pretty boy' can't ever fight, he just hides and runs away, he must have a permission from a women first. I can't believe an opponent like him, it's shameful. This victory isn't an honour for me, it's a century joke not a century fight."
Gharibi had already once been offered the chance to pull out of the grudge match by Ford as concerns continued to grow for his safety after worrying messages ahead of the match-up. He first suggested that he wished for "death" on social media before claiming he had no coach ahead of the fast-approaching fight.
The pair met during a heated face-off in Dubai where they came to blows which saw Gharibi sent 'flying' by his rival in an ominous warning ahead of the clash. Gharibi later became agitated during a press conference, where he knocked over a tub of popcorn during an angry altercation with his rival once again.
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Ford regularly questioned how "serious" his rival was about taking the fight, but was met with a bullish defiance by the Iranian star who vowed to compete for his native people. Now Ford has been left without an upcoming boxing debut and was clearly disappointed during a video statement confirming the news.
He said during an Instagram video : "This is a statement I didn't want to have to release but my fight is going to be postponed. The event is still going to take place and there is some great people and some great fights on. "But unfortunately my fight will not be one of them due to reasons out of my control.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure them all out, I don't want to talk about it, too much time and energy has been wasted. I am still here and I am still training hard, but there will be a debut and there will be a fight. I am just not 100 per cent sure who or when and why?"
Fans have now suggested that Icelandic strongman Thor Bjornsson should step in to take his place with the pair teasing a clash after his victory over Eddie Hall. Ford has previously claimed he would be willing to stage the meeting to back up his previous "too-soft" jibe.
