Tyson Fury branded a 'clown' over Anthony Joshua contract saga

Tyson Fury has been slammed by the boxing community for his contract saga with Anthony Joshua, with some going as far as to label him a ‘clown’.

The ‘Gypsy King’ took to social media earlier this week to announce he was calling off his offer for a huge battle with AJ as his rival hadn’t signed the contract in time.

The heavyweight had given Joshua a deadline of Monday (September 26) to sign the fight deal, and when that hadn’t happened he sensationally pulled the pin.

Fury told his followers: “It's official, D-Day has come and gone.

"No contract has been signed. It's officially over for Joshua. He's now out in the cold... Forget about it.”

The undefeated champ labelled AJ an ‘idiot’ and a ‘coward’ while claiming his would-be opponent never actually wanted the fight.

However, Joshua retorted in an Instagram Live video, claiming he had every intention of signing the contract but was waiting on his legal team before doing so.

He said: “It ain’t in my hands – it’s with a legal team. That’s why you hire lawyers.

Adding: “You know the history of boxing – make sure you get your legal terms right. That’s why you get good management and good lawyers.

“So of course, I’m going to sign the contract - it’s just with some lawyers at the minute.”

I mean, that seems fair enough, why sign a multi-million dollar contract without having some professionals iron out the details firstly?

Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn had already indicated that there was ‘no chance’ of getting the contract signed by D-day. 

And well, the boxing community also seems to be on the side of AJ and his team. 

One fan tweeted: “Tyson Fury has turned into one of the biggest clowns in boxing.”

Another wrote: “Tyson Fury is just wasting everyone’s time. DAZN and BT were meant to be meeting today to discuss the fight and then Fury says he’s pulling out same day at 5 pm. Pathetic.”

A third added: “Hope everyone takes at least 5 minutes on their lunch break to think about just how much of a coward Tyson Fury is.”

With Fury setting such a tight deadline it's hard to argue that he really wanted the fight and more likely just wanted to save face.

Fury says he is moving on to yet another potential opponent with Mahmoud Charr his preferred alternative.

He reposted the German’s challenge, writing: If [Joshua] don’t sign today you are in big G and you can show them how a real man throws down!”