Tyson Fury has never been one to let a stalemate pass quietly, and this week he took to Instagram with an expletive-laden video that turned a stalled negotiation into a public dare.

In it, the man who calls himself the Gypsy King accused Anthony Joshua of backing out of their long-awaited all-British showdown.

Rather than wait him out, Fury calls out Usyk instead, pivoting toward a familiar rival in a fresh bid to force movement on the stalled Joshua fight.

“Let’s run it back in November. The ball is now in your court… do you want to fight me this year, 2026, or are you calling it quits?” Fury said, directing his challenge at Oleksandr Usyk, the former undisputed heavyweight champion who beat him twice in 2024.

The outburst matters because Fury and Joshua have both signed individual contracts to fight each other, brokered by the Saudi-backed promoter Sela and pencilled in for November.

Fury dangling a replacement opponent so close to a hoped-for announcement suggests the deal is shakier than the paperwork lets on.

Fury’s frustration has been building. Reports earlier in the week had him questioning Joshua’s guts and accusing him of ducking the fight, and his taunt on Instagram leaned heavily on Usyk’s role in the opposing corner.

Usyk now works with Joshua as part of his training and coaching team, which gave Fury the opening to needle both men at once.

“You’re his trainer and his sensei, and you know he is weak minded,” Fury said of Usyk, before conceding the obvious. “You got the decisions last time, fair play to you. Good luck to you, let’s do it again.”

The sticking point is not money or mandatories, but rather a map. Sela is fronting the bill, yet Joshua’s contract stipulates the fight must be staged in the United Kingdom, while the promoter and broadcaster Netflix are understood to favour New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Why Fury Calls Out Usyk Now

Fury’s timing looks less like a genuine change of heart and more like leverage.

By threatening to walk towards a Usyk trilogy, he pressures Joshua’s camp to settle the venue row quickly, before the November window slips away entirely.

It reads as a negotiating tactic dressed up as a callout, very much in character for the outspoken heavyweight.

With two potential heavyweight blockbusters in the mix, it is worth keeping an eye on the latest boxing betting odds as the picture clears.

Joshua Fury Wembley Venue Deadlock

Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has been renegotiating the UK clause in his fighter’s deal. After London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan made a public plea to keep the bout at home, Hearn said talks about staging it in Britain had reopened, hinting the New York option was gaining ground before Khan stepped in.

Khan’s pitch was unambiguous. “A message to the promoters, we want to host it in London,” he told the BBC.

“Talk to us, we’re really keen to have it.” A Wembley staging could fill 100,000 seats, though organisers may need a late-night or early-hours start to capture the American TV audience - a curfew extension that would need Brent Council and Wembley’s safety advisory group to sign off. Khan says he backs bringing the fight to London.