Following his comeback win over Arslanbek Makhmudov back in April, Tyson Fury labeled his boxing match with Anthony Joshua “the defining fight for British boxing.” However, AJ’s long-time manager, Eddie Hearn, has a completely different perspective on ‘The Gypsy King’s’ aim to elevate British boxing culture because he’s not pushing for the fight to take place in his home country. 

Eddie Hearn revealed that during their earlier negotiations, his side, including AJ, had personally insisted that the fight take place in London. However, now that Fury and his side are suggesting that the fight take place in New York, Hearn believes Fury only cares about the money he would receive from the fight, even if it comes at the expense of fighting outside the UK.

“It wasn’t a hard negotiation,” Hearn told Ariel Helwani. “We wanted this fight for years and years and years. The problem came when all of a sudden someone had come up with the idea to do this in New York. Now Tyson Fury could not care less. And you can dress it up that, ‘It’s because he’s a fighting man. He’ll fight any man on any planet.’ The reality is, he just wants the money.

“He doesn’t care about British boxing. He doesn’t care whether the fight’s at Wembley or in Saudi or New York. He wants to see what he can get out of it, little bits and pieces. And we’ve seen that in the lead-up to this fight, how it’s convenient for Tyson Fury to hold this fight in America also. But we don’t want those perks. We don’t need those perks. We just want to do what we signed for.”

Earlier negotiations indeed had the fight taking place in London, possibly at Wembley, until reports suggested that Dana White was attempting to do a venue deal for the fight with the folks at MSG in New York. Considering the massive nature of the showdown between the two British boxing giants, it makes sense for the fight to take place in the UK. But it does not seem like that would happen.

For his part, Tyson Fury has directed his full focus toward facing Anthony Joshua anywhere on Earth. As per ESPN, Fury said he’s “down” to fight his adversary in any location, including England, Ireland, and New York.

But Fury’s nonchalant attitude toward the location of the fight has become a point of contention for Eddie Hearn.

Hearn is also entangled in a professional dispute with Turki Alalshikh’s SELA, who wants the fight to take place at Madison Square Garden, with Netflix streaming the entire event to generate more revenue from the American audience.

But Hearn has made it clear that Joshua’s contract currently requires him to fight in England, preferably at Wembley Stadium, and it would require amendments to move the fight to New York, which AJ’s promoter isn’t too thrilled about doing. However, the blame game isn’t coming from only one side.

Tyson Fury has also called out Hearn in an interview with Gareth A. Davies, stating that his “ego” and unwillingness to deal with TKO in America have massively delayed the fight. As the drama around the British derby builds up, Tyson Fury launched a rant against Anthony Joshua.

Tyson Fury calls Anthony Joshua “coward”

‘The Gypsy King’ is growing tired of the complexities surrounding the Joshua fight. He’s become so exasperated that Fury now believes Joshua doesn’t actually want to fight and has called him a “coward.”

“The facts are I feel like you’re being a coward,” Fury said, as per ESPN. “I feel like you don’t want the fight and you’re just conning everybody. I feel like you’ve been doing that for years. You’ve had many opportunities to fight me, but deep down you’ve never really wanted it, so let’s see if you’re going to man up for a final time.”

Though Fury blamed Joshua for dodging him throughout the years, the negotiations surrounding the fight have always been complex. In 2021, the British superstars came really close to a unification bout. However, the showdown collapsed after an independent arbitrator ruled that Fury was contractually obligated to face Deontay Wilder in a trilogy fight. Subsequently, Joshua shifted his focus to Oleksandr Usyk.

The following year, in 2022, however, both of them again came really close to making the fight. But once again, negotiations became the painful Achilles’ heel. According to reports, Joshua’s management accepted a 60/40 split for the matchup. Still, the fight ended up being halted because of Fury’s alignment with ESPN in the U.S. and Joshua being exclusively signed to DAZN.

With those complexities still existing, only time will tell whether both parties can overcome their differences and finally allow fans to witness Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua’s generational clash.