Tyson Fury’s heavyweight unification fight against Anthony Joshua is not a done deal, Fury said in an interview on Friday.
“I’m not training anymore,” Fury told Alex Steedman and Barry Jones on a Top Rank broadcast on ESPN+. “I’m not training no more. I’ve never stopped training since December 2017, and even after these world title fights, I trained the next day. I go running 10 miles, doing things … I’m in the gym sparring and messing around.
“I’m taking some time away from the game at the moment, because, like I said, I’ve been ready to fight since I beat Deontay Wilder last year. I’ve had no success in getting another fight. At the moment I’m just concentrating on getting me 10 pints of Stella.”
While it has been reported consistently over the past few months that a fight between Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), the WBC and lineal champion, and Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs), the WBA, WBO and IBF champion, to unify the heavyweight division for the first time since 1999 was close to being finalized for June somewhere in the Middle East, Fury said that it’s not necessarily set.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes and you know, Wilder might be next” pic.twitter.com/J1qlzoTMQJ
— Jevan (@jevan_bay) March 11, 2021
Finally we get some kind of an update on the wilder-fury arbitration. This is definitely a shift from the reports we were getting a few months ago of “wilder doesn’t want the 3rd fight” and “the contract for the 3rd fight is no longer valid” check below for more. pic.twitter.com/itIH2jQsw5
— Lex (@BadBeatsBoxing) March 17, 2021
“Everyone in this building knows more about this fight than I do,” Fury said when asked about the reports of the fight. “I don’t know jack, I don’t know anything. As far as I’m concerned, I’m not even training anymore. I’ve stopped training. [Trainer] Sugar Hill has gone home, he went home in November, end of November. Andy Lee has gone home. … I need a rest, mentally and physically and emotionally.”
Fury said he spoke to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum on Thursday and to his own lawyer on Friday, and nothing has been confirmed.
“I’ve heard it straight from the horse’s mouth and I don’t know anything about no fight,” Fury said. “So, there you are, straight from me.
“Like I said, I’m not training anymore. Until I got a date, and they say, ‘Right, you are gonna be fighting on June 15, Antarctica,’ then I’ll go back to training camp. I only need six, seven weeks of training, anyway, for these bums.”
Despite the outward doubts, Fury said that if a fight is announced soon, he’ll be ready to fight.
“I can [fight] tonight. I’m ready, I’m in shape, fit, I’ve trained all my life,” Fury said. “I’ll fight tonight, tomorrow, next week, the week after that, next month. I’ve been calling for a fight for over a year.”
Fury last fought on Feb. 22, 2020, a seventh-round TKO victory over Wilder at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Joshua defeated Kubrat Pulev by ninth-round KO on Dec. 12 at Wembley Arena in London.
–espn.com
