Tyson Fury seems to have reached the end of his patience. The wait for confirmation on his showdown with Anthony Joshua has put the former WBC heavyweight champion at his wit’s end, so much so that he now wants to move on.

“I see Eddie’s doing a lot of interviews. (He’s) trying to twist the narrative,” Fury said in a video message shared via Instagram. “The facts are you don’t want to fight. Because if you did, you’d be ready to rock and roll like I am. Tyson Fury has already said 1,000 times, ‘I will fight anywhere; no problem at all.’

“Turki Alalshikh has paid you tens of millions to fight, and you’re still acting like little bit-hes. It is what it is. There’s nothing I can do. I can’t make a coward fight, can I? At the end of the day, you’ve showed your true colors. If AJ was any sort of man, he’d overrule the sausage, and he’d stand up and fight, but obviously he’s not. That’s where we are. Good luck to you. One thing for sure is I won’t wait for a sausage who’s been knocked spark out by Daniel Dubois.”

According to Fury, he had been waiting for the AJ fight for the last ten years. Now, with his career entering its final stretch at age 38, he cannot wait any longer if Joshua and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, cannot make up their minds. He would rather turn his attention to a matchup with any of the upcoming stars or reigning champions.

Fury’s frustration largely centers around the string of interviews Matchroom head Eddie Hearn has been giving recently, in which he has highlighted the complications surrounding the fight negotiations. Those comments have made the fight look increasingly uncertain.

If UFC CEO Dana White’s rumored role in promoting the fight occupied the earlier discussions, the dispute over venue soon took over. The question is whether the fight between two British heavyweights should take place in England or in New York, where Turki Alalshikh, SELA, and broadcast partner Netflix reportedly want it staged at Madison Square Garden.

The differences now extend to the finer points of the contract. While Fury and his promoter, Frank Warren, say they have signed what appears to be a new contract, Team AJ, including Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing, seems to have been caught off guard by the move. Their position, however, is that the contract for the fight has already been signed.

Fury’s latest video comes after a fresh round of social media attacks that saw him rope in heavyweight legend Mike Tyson to tease and entice Joshua into an agreement.

Team AJ, meanwhile, sees the situation differently. They have their own view as to why Fury could be amplifying the noise and making threats.

“We wanted this fight for years and years and years,” Hearn told Ariel Helwani yesterday. “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.”

Hearn’s comments follow the twist, which saw Fury claim that he is willing to face AJ anywhere in the world with “zero stipulations.”

Is Tyson Fury playing a bigger game with Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn?

Taken together, the latest video from the Mancunian could be a tactic to apply pressure on AJ and Hearn. If they do not concede, he will move to other opportunities. He has already said he is willing to fight anywhere, so Team AJ’s continued hesitation over the negotiations only puts more pressure on them.

Fury is likely positioning himself as the more cooperative fighter, one who just wants to get into the ring. Meanwhile, Team Joshua is increasingly being portrayed as the one holding up the fight.

At this point, the negotiations appear to involve more than just the contract itself. By suggesting that he is willing to fight “anywhere,” Fury is, in one way or another, aligning with Alalshikh and Netflix’s reported preference for staging the fight in New York.

The situation has also drawn in Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, who has reportedly urged both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua to “get the fight in London.”

The next couple of days could be crucial, as Hearn highlighted, given that they could determine whether the fight gets made. Given Fury’s nature, not many are likely to take his ultimatum seriously. Three years ago, after calling Oleksandr Usyk a “sausage,” he threatened to walk away unless the Ukrainian accepted his 70/30 purse split.

But if nothing eventually transpires, his words could come true, with even Team AJ deciding that continuing to pursue the fight is a waste of time.