Tyson Fury has accepted a call-out from old rival Mahmoud Charr - if the heavyweight champion can't agree a deal with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury announced earlier this year that he was hanging up his gloves after defeating Dillian Whyte in his latest title defence at Wembley Stadium. However, he has almost instantly backtracked on that idea and has declared his intent to unify the division against Oleksandr Usyk as early as this December.
Fury has also been looking into the possibility of fighting Derek Chisora, although his former pal turned down a £2million offer to face the world champion in a bout at the Principality Stadium this year. And now, it appears that Fury is looking into the possibility of facing Charr after conditionally accepting his unexpected social media call-out.
Over the past few months, Fury has been going back-and-forth on social media in video posts with Chisora, strongman-turned-boxer Thor Bjornsson and now Charr. The Germany-based Syrian fighter said in an Instagram post out of the blue today: " Tyson Fury, take the fight, I'm ready, I challenged you out, take the challenge, I'm ready for you man, no excuses."
Fury hit back in a video of his own, insisting that if Usyk, who he didn't name, were to turn down an offer that he would gladly take such a bout. "Diamond boy, I've got a certain little middleweight [Usyk] that I've got to put my fist through first," Fury said. "However, if he don't want no smoke you can surely get it, pressure will break diamonds."
Promoters had been hoping to make Fury vs Usyk happen in December, with Saudi Arabia to host the event around the same time as the World Cup final just three hours away in Qatar. However, Usyk would rather hold off until next year, saying recently that he wants to take some time off to nurse injuries and spend time with his family after a traumatic year in Ukraine.
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"Fighting Tyson Fury in December is impossible," Usyk said. "First, I have old injuries. Second, I just don't want to box in December. I haven't left the gym for half a year, I want to be with my children, my family. Boxing can wait a little. Next year I think it will happen. I want the WBC title. It was captured by the gypsies, some kind of king. We don't know what Tyson has in his head. Everyone knows that this is a very crazy guy. I would really like this fight to happen next year."
Usyk just defeated Anthony Joshua in a world title rematch last month to defend his unified WBA super, WBO and IBF titles. He also holds the less sought-after IBO belt and is The Ring Magazine champion after Fury vacated that ceremonial belt.
