By Charles Brun: Johnny Nelson says Tyson Fury lost out on his mega-fight with Anthony Joshua through his “arrogance” and “inexperience.”
Fury’s ham-handed decision to try and rush Joshua and his team to look through & sign the contract resulted in him losing out on a fight that would have made him a fortune.
As a result, Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) is left with nothing and could wind up with a much smaller payday, be it against journeyman Derek Chisora or Mahmoud Charr on December 3rd.
Nelson says that Fury’s attempt at rushing Joshua & and his team through the contract was the wrong move. As such, Fury’s to blame for the massive fight with Joshua slipping through his fingers.
The way things are now, Fury’s future is uncertain because, after his gimme fight in December, he’s expected to face the talented IBF, WBA & WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk in February or March.
Usyk could make Fury look like he’s got two left feet and school him like he’s never been schooled before. After a loss to Usyk, Fury’s pride will force him to take a rematch, which he could also lose.
After the smoke clears from those two fights, Fury’s career will be in tatters, and he’d be in a greatly weakened position to attempt to negotiate a mega-fight with Joshua. Instead of getting the 60-40 deal with Joshua, the split will be reversed, with AJ being the top dog.
“It’s down to ignorance. The fights been thrown out, it’s been accepted by both fighters,” said Johnny Nelson to iFL TV about the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight.
“Tyson is then saying if it’s not done by then, this day, it’s off. You can’t do that. You can’t say, ‘You signed that. Don’t look at these details. Don’t look at the small print. Don’t look at any of that. Just sign it. If you don’t sign it today, it’s off,‘” Johnny continued about the contract that Fury’s team sent to Joshua.
“You can’t do that. It doesn’t exist. Who would do that? So it’s down to inexperience, naivety, and arrogance. So that would be at the feet of Tyson Fury because, as far as I know, they [Team Joshua] haven’t refused anything.
“As far as I know, they signed and said, ‘Yeah, we’ll do it. We’ve got to check this out. Thank you. Yes, that can happen.’ There’s no, ‘No, I’m not fighting you.’ There’s no demand after demand, which I’m hearing.
“I think the majority of the people would think Fury because even his own team haven’t really said otherwise, as in Queensbury.
“No,” said Nelson when asked if it would be beneficial for Eddie Hearn to feed Anthony Joshua to Fury at this vulnerable point in his career. “Therefore, you need someone to take a bold step and say, ‘AJ, this is not happening,’ but who is the boss, Eddie or AJ?
“Eddie has been employed to do a job, and he’s doing his job. He wants to create longevity and build AJ back up again. AJ’s ego has been hurt, and Tyson has called him out, saying, ‘I want this job. You get that job done. Get it signed.’
“If I was on AJ’s team, I would say, ‘Don’t take that fight.’ I’m sure the people in his team don’t want him to take that fight. AJ wants the fight, and Tyson Fury wants the fight, but he wants it done NOW, right now. Like you’re going to fight on the cobbles. It doesn’t work like that.
“The date was secure. The contractual details were passed back and forth, but that wasn’t good enough for Fury,” said Nelson.
