Tyson Fury has now publicly declared that he will not be fighting Anthony Joshua next after his self-imposed deadline expired.
The Gypsy King set AJ a deadline of 5pm on Monday to sign the contract for their bout, but as that time passed, no paper was inked.
“Well guys, it’s official, D-day has come and gone,” Fury said on social media.
“It’s gone past 5pm Monday, no contract has been signed.
“It’s officially over for Joshua, he is now out in the cold with the wolfpack.
“Forget about it, idiot, coward, s***house, bodybuilder.
“Always knew it, always knew he didn’t have the minerals to fight the Gypsy King.
“Regardless of what the f*** you say now, I don’t really care. Good luck with your career and your life, end of, peace out.”
Fury called out Joshua earlier this month, despite his two consecutive defeats, after hearing that Oleksandr Usyk would not be ready to face him until early 2023.
AJ accepted the call and agreed to all of Fury’s proposed terms.
These included a 60/40 split in the champion’s favour, a 50/50 rematch clause and a proposed date of December 3 at the Principality Stadium.
The pair have been at contract stages with their teams going back-and-forth to try and finalise an agreement over the past week.
Fury is now expected to face Charr, who has a record of 33-4 (19 KO’s)
However, these things understandably take time and – with a dual broadcast arrangement between BT Sport and DAZN yet to be sorted out – no contracts have been signed.
Over the weekend, Fury said he’d lost patience and would instead face Mahmoud Charr on December 3 if Joshua did not sign on Monday.
AJ insisted on Sunday that he would sign the contract and his promoter Eddie Hearn warned that Monday would come too soon for everything to be completed in the deal.
This sudden deadline has not been met and so Fury is now adamant that he’s moving on.
Despite Fury’s insistence the fight is off, his promoter Frank Warren told talkSPORT later on Monday evening that he is still working with Hearn and his Matchroom team to get it done.
“We’re working very hard to get it over the line,” he said.
“If everyone agreed everything, it would be a huge undertaking, but we could do it that way.
“Tyson has told me what he wants. They’ve had the contract for ten days and he’s lost patience with it.
“We’re trying to make it work and we had a good meeting today so we’ll see what happens.”