Tyson Fury says Anthony Joshua fight was off three days before press conference

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Tyson Fury has revealed that his British super-fight with Anthony Joshua “wasn’t happening” just days before their launch press conference ended up taking place, after the bout plunged into jeopardy less than 48 hours following its announcement.

Confirmation of the long-mooted ‘Battle of Britain’ finally came last week, with Cardiff’s Principality Stadium hosting the heavyweight bout on 11 December, which will also be streamed live on Netflix.

However, the clash soon fell into major doubt over the weekend amid of unspecified “issues”, which were thought to surround the potential involvement of UFC chief and Zuffa Boxing co-founder Dana White, something which was disputed by Eddie Hearn.

A resolution was eventually found that meant the slated press conference on Wednesday could go ahead in London, but only after Fury took to social media to brand Joshua a “yellow-bellied coward” – action he took after learning that the fight was hurtling towards cancellation.

“Up until three days ago, this fight wasn’t happening,” Fury said on Wednesday.

“I got a call from the top saying, ‘We need to go in on these now on a video and say, look, come on, what’s going on?’ So I said I’d be delighted, I’d love to.

“I went in on them and it’s sort of come to a point where there’s nothing more that they could say to try and skip out of this contract. Because if you’ve got one manager like just saying, ‘Yeah, no problem, do what you want,’ and you’ve got another saying, ‘This, that, and the other,’ it’s very difficult.”

Fury claims that Joshua and Hearn had found “a million excuses” to hold up the fight being signed but insists he was more than agreeable to their demands, such as having the fight held in the UK.

“There’s only a certain amount of moves that you can you can play in order before you’re checkmated,” he added.

“I think the final hurdle has been, ‘Oh, we want it in Britain or nothing.’ And they thought, ‘Well, why? Tyson’s not going to come to Britain.’ Why wouldn’t I want to come to Britain?” Okay, checkmate. Now what are you going to say?”

While Joshua says he’s “confident… 100 percent” that the bout will survive the next 10 weeks and make it to the first bell, Fury admits it is “out of my control”.

“Whatever happens, it just happens, there’s not much more I can do,’ he said. “I’ve done everything within my power to make this fight happen, and fingers crossed, we both get in the ring and fight on the night.”