Veteran British promoter Frank Warren has added his voice to criticism of American boxing journalist Dan Rafael after the ESPN.com reporter wrote that Tyson Fury 27-0 (19) is “balking” at his mooted December match-up with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder 40-0 (39).
“This is nonsense. We have already done all the filming with Tyson and Deontay and their teams for the BT Sports programming leading up to their broadcast of the fight. So who is the source supposed to be for the report in the US?” said Warren to the Daily Mail.
“To be honest, I’ve never had much respect for this particular reporter in America.”
Fury, who became the lineal heavyweight champion after defeating Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015, insists the fight is a lock for later this year.
“They sent me the contract and I’ve signed it and sent it back,” said the 30-year-old Mancunian.
“You heard him. You can believe him,” added Warren.
The self-styled ‘Gypsy King’ is two fights into his comeback after spending two-and-a-half years on the sidelines dealing with mental health and drug issues. Earlier this month he outboxed limited former world title challenger Francesco Pianeta over 10 rounds on the undercard of the Carl Frampton versus Luke Jackson bout at Belfast’s Windsor Park.
“I’m a big believer in when it’s your time, it’s your time,” said Fury. “My uncle Hughie used to say that if you can fight, fight and if you can’t fight, don’t fight. I’m going to prove I can fight by taking the most dangerous heavyweight in the world in his own backyard.”
Warren believes much of the scuttlebutt surrounding the fight is coming from the Eddie Hearn camp after the rival promoter was unable to negotiate a deal that would see his unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua 21-0 (20) matched with the Alabama banger.
“There is a lot of envy out there about Tyson getting this fight,” said Warren. “But instead of making mischief other promoters would do better trying to sell all the unsold tickets for their own event.”
 is “balking” at his mooted December match-up with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder 40-0 (39).){kind=link}