The British heavyweight rivals have not been able to get a deal over the line despite coming desperately close.
Fury and Joshua had terms agreed for an undisputed super-fight in August 2020 until Fury was ordered into a contracted trilogy with Deontay Wilder.
At that time, Joshua went on to fight Oleksandr Usyk twice, losing both on points to leave his career at a dead end.
After the two defeats, Joshua returned in April by beating 29-year-old Jermaine Franklin, having turned down a December date with Fury.
Speaking about his promotion on his new Netflix docu-series, Fury claimed a fight with Joshua might not come up again, after he sent an offer to fight for his WBC title in September but no response.
He said, “I cannot get him in the ring for any amount of money. I’ve offered him world title shots and extremely large amounts of money, but he ain’t going to make the fight.
“Me and my team, my lawyers, have come to the conclusion and accepted the fact that AJ won’t fight me for any money or any titles.
“I saw footage of him recently training by punching a mattress – I’m not sure if it was taken off TikTok or one of his social media accounts, but I’ve no idea what was going on there.”
Joshua now returns on Saturday against Robert Helenius, 39, after Dillian Whyte, 35, was withdrawn amid a failed drug test.
Meanwhile, Fury, 34, faces ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou, 36, next on October 28 in Saudi Arabia.
Leave a Reply