Frank Warren, co-promoter for WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, is still stunned by Anthony Joshua's refusal to engage in serious fight negotiations.
Last month, Fury's handlers approached Joshua to negotiate a September showdown at Wembley Stadium in London.
Joshua, for the moment, is determined to follow through with his two-fight plan to close out 2023.
He aims to have a domestic fight in the month of August, with the second bout being a long-awaited showdown with former WBC champion Deontay Wilder on a December date in Saudi Arabia.
Joshua's opponent for August is unknown. There has long been talk of a rematch with Dillian Whyte, but several days ago the two-time former heavyweight champion took to social media and openly denied that he's negotiating a rematch with Whyte.
Eddie Hearn, promoter for Joshua, is willing to offer Fury an alternative opponent, in the form of unbeaten puncher Filip Hrgovic, who is also the IBF's mandatory challenger.
“Say you’re playing matchmaker for Tyson Fury, and you look at the rankings. Imagine AJ fights Dillian Whyte then Wilder and Usyk fights Dubois. I’ll tell you if he wants, he can fight Filip Hrgovic," Hearn told Boxing Social.
However, with Joshua rejecting the idea of Fury in September, and denying that he's engaged in active talks to face Whyte, Warren would like to see Joshua fight Hrgovic in August.
“Who is Joshua going to fight in August? They’re slagging off Tyson who is offering him the fight on a 60/40 chance of fighting for the world title,” Warren said to Talk Sport.
"You’re going to get 40 percent of the purse which you wouldn’t get if it went to purse bids. Don’t keep blaming Tyson! I’m not here banging the drum for Tyson.
“They are the facts and what the narrative should be now to AJ is, ‘Why aren’t you taking the fight?’ ‘Who are you going to fight?’ ‘If he’s not going to fight Tyson, why doesn’t he fight the other guy that’s in their camp, Hrgovic?’"