Fury says Joshua fight is off: ‘It’s officially over’

Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (R) and Britain’s Anthony Joshua (L) compete during the heavyweight boxing rematch for the WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF titles, at the King Abdullah Sports City Arena in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, on August 20, 2022. – Usyk won his rematch against Anthony Joshua by split decision to retain his world heavyweight titles in just his fourth fight in the division in Saudi Arabia late tonight. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / AFP)

Tyson Fury took to his Instagram to announce that he will not be fighting Anthony Joshua after AJ did not sign the contract before the deadline, reports skysports.com. Fury declared he will not be fighting Joshua because “no contract has been signed” after his self-imposed 5.00 p.m. deadline, yesterday.

Joshua said on Sunday he will sign the contract to fight Fury after the WBC champion issued an ultimatum if they are to put together their all-British heavyweight battle this year. Fury, who initially called for Joshua to sign the contract by yesterday, returned to Instagram to state that Joshua had until 5.00 p.m., otherwise he will walk away from the deal.

Joshua had assured Fury on Sunday that he would sign the contract, saying: “It’s not in my hands, it’s with the legal team. That’s why you hire lawyers. You know the history of boxing, make sure you get your legal terms right. “Of course, I’m going to sign a contract. It’s just with some lawyers at the minute.”

Fury may still fight before the end of the year, but the undisputed showdown with WBO, WBA and IBF titlist Oleksandr Usyk will have to wait until next year. Mahmoud Charr last week called on Fury to forget about fighting Joshua in December, and to fight him instead.

Former WBA ‘regular’ champion, Charr, insists Fury should