Frank Warren says that Anthony Joshua is yet to sign the contract for an all-British blockbuster fight with Tyson Fury as the wait goes on for an official announcement.
Fury suggested on Tuesday that confirmation of the hotly-anticipated showdown was close, posting a mocked-up image of himself facing off with Joshua above the words “New York City” on Instagram.
The expectation is that the bout will be hosted at the world-famous Madison Square Garden, as is the desire of Turki Alalshikh and Saudi state-owned promotional company Sela, though Joshua’s camp prefer Wembley Stadium as the venue, which would allow for the element of a home crowd.
Warren, however, says that location is no longer a factor for Fury who has penned a contract that does not hinge on where the fight takes place, with the Queensberry chief insisting that “The Gypsy King” is now just waiting on Joshua’s signature.
“The latest is Joshua’s not signed yet,” Warren said.
“It’s not for me to give him [a deadline], it’s the people who are paying the money. It’s all this stuff, as I said from the beginning, it’s about contracts. I know what the contracts say. The contracts have all got to be amended.
“Tyson’s signed. Tyson’s done. He don’t care when the fight takes place. [If] they want it in New York, they want it in Barbados, they want it on the Isle of Wight, he’s signed. He’s done.”
Warren also added that Fury signed up for the “AJ” fight as early as the beginning of this year, with plans originally being for the pair to fight in this month.
However, Joshua’s involvement in car crash that took the lives of two of his close friends last December forced the date of fight night to be rearranged.
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Both men have since had warm-up fights back, with Fury beating Arslanbek Makhmudov by decision in April before stopping Mariusz Wach in Thailand in July, while Joshua survived a scare to beat Kristian Prenga that same month.
“He signed for the fight in January,” Warren continued. “The fight was supposed to take place in September, but what happened with AJ and his accident, that all got pushed back.
“Where we got to with it was obviously AJ had his fight back and we’d already had that one in December with Jake Paul.
“Then, it was decided to put it on in November. But one contract says one venue, the other contract says another venue, and the TV contract says another venue. I don’t do the contracts.”
