By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury has given superstar Anthony Joshua a deadline of today to accept his offer of Nov. 26 or Dec. 3, 60-40 split and 50-50 rematch clause.
Arguably, if Joshua agreed to today’s deadline from Fury it would be humiliating for him. If that’s Fury’s goal to try and shame Joshua into his place, I’m afraid he’s going to fail miserably and he’ll look stupid for using such a foolish tactic.
Presumably, if Joshua doesn’t take Fury’s deal, he’ll go ahead and face someone else in the UK on one of these two dates.
Given the crude, clumsy and tough tactics Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) is using to try to negotiate with Joshua, I’d say the chances of this fight happening are slim to none.
From the way Fury talks and sets a deadline, he seems to be confused about who he’s negotiating with.
The use of take-it-or-leave-it deals and deadlines is something that would work for Fury if he were dealing with a simple ham-and-egg contender who had no popularity or negotiating strength.
But this is Joshua, and this is the wrong way to negotiate with a fighter of this magnitude unless the goal is to get him to turn down the offer, which is likely to happen.
“This is not a mandatory defense. This is Tyson being magnanimous, giving AJ a route back,” Frank Warren told iFL TV. “What he wants to make sure of is that there are no problems for the Usyk fight in February or March, and he needs a decent run-up to that.
“Yeah, today,” Warren said when asked if there was a deadline for Joshua to accept the fight. “Let’s do it. You have today to do it.”
I think it’s safe to say that Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn will likely reject the deadline right away and move on unless Fury changes the date to Dec. 17 and agrees to the 60-40 rematch split they want.
“It’s 60-40, pick one of those two dates, and it’s 50-50 for the rematch,” Warren continued. for a boy [Joshua] Coming off two losses, it’s a no-brainer.
“Everyone acts like AJ is an undefeated fighter, and this is a must defense. Tyson is giving him a chance to come back in a big way,” Warren said.
