Tyson Fury claims his trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder is off because he has been wearied by the American's attempts to fix a date.
A Wilder-Fury trilogy has been touted after the latter stripped the American of the WBC title in February's rematch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas after a draw in the first fight in 2018.
Wilder (41-1-1) has the right to a third bout against British star Fury (30-0-1) but nothing has been finalized, although Dec. 19 was suggested as a possible date.
There have been claims Wilder no longer has a contractual clause for the rematch, which would leave Fury free to face Anthony Joshua instead, but Wilder's co-manager Shelly Finkel told Sky Sports last week: "They are wrong, we will fight in December."
Yet Fury himself claims to be frustrated by attempts from Wilder's camp to push back the date for the bout.
"I was looking forward to smashing Wilder again. A quick and easy fight," he told The Athletic.
"But Wilder and his team were messing around with the date. They don't really want to fight the lineal heavyweight champion. They know how it ends. The world knows how it will end: with Wilder on his a— again.
"They asked me if I would agree to push it to December. I agreed to Dec. 19. Then they tried to change the date again into next year. I've been training. I'm ready. When they tried moving off Dec. 19 and pushing to next year, enough was enough. I've moved on."
Sunday motivation! pic.twitter.com/p3Fx1c87If
— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) October 11, 2020
Fury is apparently prepared to let Wilder "win a few fights" before facing him again.
"I am the best fighter in the world," Fury said. "The lineal heavyweight champion. The two-time Ring magazine heavyweight champion. The WBC heavyweight champion. And before the end of 2021, I will be the only man on this earth with a heavyweight championship belt."
A deal for two 2021 fights between Fury and Joshua, who regained the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight world titles by beating Andy Ruiz in a rematch last December, was agreed to in principle in June.