Joshua and Joyce both want Fury later this summer (Picture: Getty)
John Fury says a fight between Tyson Fury and Joe Joyce is ‘meaningless’ compared to fighting for undisputed, with the WBC heavyweight champion ‘not thinking about boxing’ amid renewed talk of a long-awaited showdown with Anthony Joshua.
‘The Gypsy King’ was preparing for a 29 April date against Oleksandr Usyk to crown the heavyweight division’s first undisputed champion in 23 years and the first of the four-belt era.
Talks collapsed last week however with Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk confirming they pulled the plug on the deal after they were unable to agree terms on a proposed rematch.
The undefeated Ukrainian is now expected to defend his titles against WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois, although Fury Snr has claimed a showdown with Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia could also be an option.
Joyce is reportedly the front runner to fight Fury later in the summer, should he come through his bout against Zhilei Zhang on 15 April unscathed.
The 37-year-old heavyweights is undefeated in 15 bouts and holds the WBO ‘interim’ title after knocking out Joseph Parker last year. He is also that sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger for another of the belts currently in Usyk’s possession.
But having come so close to securing that historic showdown with Usyk, Fury’s father, who has been left ‘disillusioned and depressed’ since the fight collapsed, suggests the champion may now struggle to get himself up for other challenges.
Fury has ‘blown a fuse’ following the collapse of the Usyk fight (Picture: Getty)
‘How do you get yourself up for that? Joe Joyce doesn’t have any belts,’ Fury Snr told Metro.co.uk on behalf of FreeBets.com.
‘He’s an interim champion and of course he deserves his shot at the title. But when you are gearing up to fight for undisputed and then you’ve got to go back to the drawing board and starting again, it is the question of getting up for it.
‘He wanted to be undisputed and now that is not happening. I think his head is all over the place with it. With boxing in general, to be fair. It is only my opinion but to fight Joe Joyce at this stage of the game is meaningless.
Fury says his son will take time to plot his next move (Picture: Getty)
‘No one is interested in that. No one is interested in Joe Joyce, no one is interested in Joshua anymore, no one is interested in anything other than the undisputed bout and that is all that Tyson wants. I don’t know what has gone on because I have been away resting, but I can read between the lines and see what has gone on.’
Joshua meanwhile will return to the ring on Saturday to take on Jermaine Franklin with his promoter Eddie Hearn confident of reviving the Fury fight this summer.
Talks for the Battle of Britain have fallen through twice in the last two years but Fury will now take some time to assess his next move.
Asked whether team Fury will be keen to pick up talks with Joshua again, Fury Snr added: ‘It is not for me to say, it is up to Tyson. We will see what road he wants to take.
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‘At the moment, I don’t think he wants to talk about boxing, he doesn’t want to make any decisions. Because it has been a big let-down.
‘When you are gearing up for the undisputed heavyweight title fight only to be let down at the 11th hour and the nation is blaming you, I just think he has blown a fuse with it.
‘So we will have a little quiet holiday and see which way the wind blows. As far as retirement goes, what has he got if hasn’t got boxing? Boxing is his life. And I always say Tyson will still be boxing when he is 40. It is a blip, we will get over it, and when we get our heads right we will make a decision.’
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‘No one is interested in Joe Joyce, no one is interested in Joshua anymore, no one is interested in anything other than the undisputed bout.’