Tyson Fury has warned Anthony Joshua he won't hang around waiting for their British mega-fight. Fury, 37, will return to the ring tonight to take on 46-year-old veteran Mariusz Wach in Thailand. He will then watch with his fingers crossed as Joshua attempts to keep his end of the bargain against Kristian Prenga in Saudi Arabia tomorrow evening. Routine victories for both men should leave the path clear to the belated settling of their decade-long heavyweight rivalry.
But that showdown is without a date or venue and an impatient Fury insists he is ready to walk away. "I want to keep busy," he said. "I'm not banking on any fight happening or not happening I'm a fighter and I've never been able to stay busy; this is my second fight in two years. This year is the year of me staying busy and whatever happens I'm going to do that. Who knows, I might even have 10 fights this year."
Venue uncertainty
Fury's meeting with Joshua was agreed earlier this year with Wembley chosen to play host in November. But broadcaster Netflix were spooked at the prospect of a mid-afternoon start on America's west coast. Should the fight be held in the UK, the first bell could now ring as late - or as early - as 4am. But Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York have now thrown their considerable hats into the ring.
Even Joshua admits he could be powerless to prevent the Battle of Britain being shipped overseas. "Everyone controls a certain operation in the organisation and that is not my operation," he said. "I am the landlord but, for example, my job is not to manage the staff rosters and what time they come in and who opens the store. So it's not my operation as to what time the fight will be."
Decision maker
Saudi's boxing powerbroker Turki Al-Sheikh will ultimately decide the fate of the biggest fight in British boxing history. And promoter Eddie Hearn added: "There was never any doubt this fight was in the UK until there were some approaches from America in terms of the revenue that could be achieved over there. When you sign a contract, you expect it to be honoured and followed but we've never done a deal with Turki where he hasn't done that.
"I don't think he's trying to pull a fast one; he's paying a lot of money for the fight, and he wants to make it as big a success for every stakeholder involved. If that means moving it to somewhere else, that's a conversation we'll have to have but we all hope, and we'd like to insist, that it's in the UK."
"If it was the old days and the contract said the fight was in the UK, we wouldn't even be in a discussion. It would just be, 'Tough s***, mate, that's what we signed, you're doing it.' But we also understand the relationship, and the fact there's a lot of money in the fight."
