The fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury is at risk of collapsing if they don’t reach an agreement by the end of next week.
Joshua and Fury signed contracts earlier this year to fight at home in the autumn. But Netflix, which will broadcast the contest, and Saudi organisers are pushing for a move to the United States.
The organisers want to stage the bout on November 20, a Friday, at Madison Square Garden. However, Joshua, 36, and his promoter Eddie Hearn want the fight at Wembley.
Fury is already in Miami preparing for the showdown, and his promoter Frank Warren warned: “Unless AJ commits by the end of next week, I’m afraid this will slip away like so many of those great fights which never happened.”
Hearn has pushed for a larger financial package to compensate Joshua for surrendering his first-contract right to the fight taking place in England.
“At some point everyone has to say the most important thing is that it happens. Not this [expletive deleted] about money,” Warren said.
“That everyone wants the fight. Does AJ really want it? I don’t know. He’s been through that tragedy of the car crash which killed two of his closest friends. Only he knows what he wants.”
Addressing the claims that the British public deserves the fight between two of their own for which they’ve waited so long, Warren said, “There’s nothing new about this. Some fans travel to the fight and the majority watch on TV.
“Our Joe Bugner fought Muhammad Ali in Kuala Lumpur. Two of Muhammad Ali’s greatest fights were against fellow Americans Joe Frazier and George Foreman in Manila and Zaire. It’s always about who’s paying the money.
“In the end you just have to get it on. Or not.”
November 20 in the Garden is the working date and venue, and Warren added: ‘I’m still confident it will go ahead in November.
“Tyson certainly wants it and will be ready to fight. If not AJ, then someone else.”