Fury says ‘1% chance’ Joshua fight happens as replacement named

Tyson Fury has claimed his blockbuster fight with Anthony Joshua now has just a one per cent chance of happening, while revealing that alternative opponents are already being lined up.

Fury and Joshua were only officially confirmed to meet at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11 on Thursday, ending years of speculation over a potential Battle of Britain.

But the fight has been thrown into fresh doubt after a reported dispute over the involvement of UFC boss Dana White, with Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn insisting White cannot be involved under the terms of Joshua’s contract.

Fury has now provided his most pessimistic assessment yet of the chances of the Cardiff blockbuster going ahead, despite also saying he expects the fight to eventually happen.

Speaking on his YouTube channel Furocity, Fury was asked what percentage chance he believes there is of facing Joshua.

“One per cent,” he said.

“If you’ve got a guy that wants to fight, yeah, and a guy that doesn’t want to fight, then how are you going to make that fight happen?

“I’ve had nearly 40 professional fights, yeah, and I’ve been on top of this game for over a decade, right? How did I manage to fight all these people before you, all these champions, yeah, for all these titles that there is in boxing, but, yeah, every time it comes to fighting this nugget, f***ing bodybuilder, CrossFit champion, it never happens. Has anyone ever asked themselves why?”

Fury, though, then struck a more positive note and insisted he remains determined to make the fight happen.

“I’ll even tie concrete blocks to my boots to make this fight happen,” he said. “There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do to make this fight happen.

“I do think it’ll happen. Because from what I’m hearing, they’ve been paid already. There’s nothing that I haven’t agreed to, nothing.”

However, Fury also revealed that he has been told replacement opponents are already being considered should the Joshua fight collapse.

He specifically welcomed the prospect of facing David Benavidez, who has emerged as one of the names being discussed as a possible alternative.

“I already heard last night that they were trying for replacements,” Fury said.