Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury: Frank Warren 'not happy' with Eddie Hearn for announcing deal

Promoter Frank Warren has hit out at his rival Eddie Hearn for revealing that Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have signed a £200m two-fight deal – admitting he is ‘not happy’ because both parties had promised joint announcements.

Matchroom Boxing chief Hearn, who represents Joshua, confirmed to Sportsmail on Monday that all the paperwork has been completed, exchanged and signed for two mega-fights, with the first scheduled for either this June or July.

But Warren, who manages Fury at Queensbury Promotions, has hit out at Hearn for letting the news slip and said it ‘came out of the blue’. 

Frank Warren hit out at Eddie Hearn for revealing Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury's fight agreement

Hearn said both fighters had signed a £200m deal

Frank Warren (L) has slammed Eddie Hearn (R) for revealing that Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury had signed a £200million, two-fight deal

‘Everybody signed an agreement that there would be no announcements unless they were joint announcements and that came out the blue yesterday,’ he told talkSport.

‘We are all not happy but it is out there now – there is nothing we can do about that.’

The next stage of talks for the fight – which will determine the undisputed world champion – will be deciding on the venue, with a number of locations in the running to stage the lucrative bout, seen as one of the biggest in history.

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have now signed a two-fight deal

Fury will have a shot at showing he's the world's best

Joshua (left) and Fury (right) have signed a two-fight deal with the first bout set for the summer

Hearn believes 'the hard bit is over' in talks, but Warren stressed there is much work still to do

Hearn believes ‘the hard bit is over’ in talks, but Warren stressed there is much work still to do

JOSHUA VS FURY – FIGHT LOCATION AND DATE ODDS 

Saudi Arabia: 1/2

USA: 4/1

UAE: 4/1

UK: 16/1

May: 50/1

June: 6/4

July: 5/4

August: 6/1

September: 10/1

October: 20/1

November: 40/1

December: 50/1

2022: 10/1

 

Odds courtesy of Betfair. 

Hearn said ‘the hard bit is over the line’ and hopes to announce the venue in the next month, with offers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the US and Australia.

But Warren warned fight fans that there is still much work to be done to get the contest finalised, although he promised everyone working on the deal was ‘on the same page’. 

Warren said: ‘But there is a long way to go yet in as much we have to sort out venues. We have a couple venues we are looking at and that is where we are.

‘I believe it will happen when they get in the ring. We’ve still got a way to go. But everybody is on the same page to make this work. We are all collectively working to get a venue sorted now.’

An epic all-British fight between Joshua and Fury has been heavily mooted since last year after the Gypsy King walked away from a third fight with Deontay Wilder after dethroning him as the WBC world champion.

Joshua, the IBF, WBA and WBO champion, overcame Bulgarian heavyweight Kubrat Pulev at the end of 2020 to clear the way for Fury, and while the fight of this magnitude was expected to be agreed quickly – talks have gone on for longer than was expected. 

Hearn has regularly promised negotiations were ‘close’ before the latest development on Monday, but Fury poured doubt on the fight by saying he had stopped training and was drinking ‘up to 12 pints a day’ – claiming an agreement was ‘nowhere near’.

Warren is confident that Fury will beat Joshua to become undisputed heavyweight champion

Warren is confident that Fury will beat Joshua to become undisputed heavyweight champion

Last week Fury had aimed a fresh jibes at Joshua ahead of their £200m fight

Joshua has stayed in pristine condition since his knockout win over Kubrat Pulev

Last week Fury poured doubt over the mega-fight and claimed he could defeat his countryman even ‘after 14 pints’ and a reduction in his training

Fury told MTK Global, via talkSport: ‘I’m not training anymore. Until I get a date, then I go back into training camp. 

‘I only need six, seven weeks anyway for these bums and that’s it.

‘I don’t need no big, great sparring partners for a methodical bodybuilding type of guy. I just need the local binmen, firemen and local strongmen.’

Joshua has been much quieter as he trains for the biggest fight of his career against an opponent who has never been defeated – but insisted this month that he was not fazed by Fury’s antics and mind games.

‘He (Fury) can bring whatever he wants, it doesn’t matter to me,’ he told JD Sports’ Road To Undisputed. ‘The press conference antics, the fight antics, the hands behind the back, I love that stuff, that’s all part of it, you know that’s his job, but my job is to close the show.

‘He’s a warm-up act [with his antics], he’s there to do all that stuff but ultimately my job is to close the show and that’s all that matters.’

source: dailymail.co.uk