Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury calls Anthony Joshua fight off after self-imposed deadline passes; Eddie Hearn says talks still on table

Heavyweight champion Tyson Fury said on Instagram that a self-imposed 5 p.m. Monday deadline in the United Kingdom has passed without a signed contract returned from Anthony Joshua for a proposed Dec. 3 bout in Cardiff, Wales, and that he's now pulled the deal off the table.

Fury made the announcement in a video posted to his Instagram story after the deadline passed, saying: «Well, guys, it's official. D-day has come and gone. It's gone past 5 o'clock Monday. No contract has been signed.»

For weeks, Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) and Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs) have been engaged in talks, but few in the boxing industry said they believed the discussions would result in a deal. After all, Joshua is coming off two consecutive losses to Oleksandr Usyk, the most recent setback just last month.

Fury's public deadline for a complicated negotiation raised further eyebrows regarding the serious nature of the talks.

«There were various positive calls today between promoters and broadcasters who are all working hard to finalize the fight,» Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, told ESPN on Monday. «There has been no talk of a deadline between the parties, but we are moving at pace to try and conclude the deal.»

The sides agreed to a 60-40 split in favor of Fury weeks ago, but several obstacles remained for a bout that would be expected to generate nine figures in revenue. For one, the network issue would need to be solved. Fury is aligned with ESPN in the U.S. and BT Sport in the U.K.; Joshua is with DAZN.

The biggest issue of all, perhaps, was just how serious the sides were about the fight. Fury was expected to head into a fight with Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship after he called off an on-again, off-again