‘No talk, no action’: Tyson Fury fires back at Anthony Joshua as talks for heavyweight showdown stagnate

WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has hit out at rival Anthony Joshua as the prolonged talks to secure a winner-takes-all clash between the two British champions shows no sign of reaching a deal.

Negotiations between Fury and Joshua's camps have progressed at a snail's pace since a supposed breakthrough was reached last summer, with the potential fight hitting several other snags and false starts in the months which followed.

Delays in officially announcing the heavyweight title unification fight are thought to have been related to difficulties in securing a location to host the event as well as a date that satisfies all sides in the fractious negotiations.

But amid robust reports that Saudi Arabia has been pinned as the likely location to hold the heavyweight megafight, Joshua took to social media to petition Fury to stop posturing and agree terms to what would be the highest stakes all-British fight in a generation.

"Spartan," Joshua wrote on Twitter. "I’m tired. My fans are tired. Your fans are tired. We’re all tired of the talk. Less talk. More action!"

Fury responded to the dig, suggesting that Joshua was the one responsible for the slow, protracted negotiations: "Come get some then you big ugly dosser???? YOU’RE NO TALK NO ACTION," he wrote back.

Meanwhile, Fury promised to deliver Joshua "a good hiding" when discussing the fight with his promoter last weekend while in Texas where he was supporting Billy Joe Saunders in his unsuccessful effort to hand Canelo Alvarez just the second defeat of his legendary career.

"I can’t wait to get the big dosser in the ring and give him a good hiding and prove to the world what a fake he is, and that there is only one dominant heavyweight champion and he goes by the name of the Gypsy King," Fury said to Hearn on an episode of the BBC's 'No Passion, No Point' podcast. 

"I will cut Anthony Joshua down like a hot knife through cheese. That’s how easy it’s going to be. When he gets cracked in the jaw, it’s like getting a boiled egg with a split down the middle, it can’t be repaired. He will go.

"I’ll even give my gameplan away: it will be a check left hook straight to the temple, his legs will go and he’ll fall on his face. He may get back up and then I’ll knock him out with the overhand right. Good night, enough said."