Frank Warren, co-promoter of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, has explained that a potential fight with Anthony Joshua is already off the table.

Last week, Fury took to social media and revealed that a draft contract had been sent over to Joshua to finalize a September fight at Wembley Stadium in London.

Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, would later deny that a contract had been sent - but he did confirm that Fury's promoter reached out to negotiate a deal for a September title clash.

Hearn cautioned that a plan was already in place for Joshua to fight in August, and then again in December in a potential clash with former champion Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia.

Warren explained that a meeting was held with Joshua's management - who ultimately made it clear that Joshua's preference was to fight Wilder in December.

“Let me clarify what has actually happened. Last week, a written proposal was sent to Matchroom for AJ to fight Tyson in September. Eddie Hearn came back and spoke to my son George, who said it will take a couple of days to see where they are with it. Couple of days went by and George met yesterday with AJ’s management company. They confirmed that AJ is fighting in Dubai in December, that is his preferred route. There is a space open in August but they basically do not want to do the fight [with Fury]," Warren told Talk Sport.

“That is what happened. When Tyson said there was a draft contract, what happened is we had prepared a draft contract the last time we had negotiations. So there was nothing really to be concerned about in terms of negotiations it was just if they wanted the fight or not. So the situation is, Tyson is desperate to make the fight happen, as he was against Usyk. But AJ has chosen not to take the fight and that is where we are at.”

“The terms were agreed over a fight to take place but the only reason it didn’t take place is because Frank Smith of Matchroom that the fight would never have happened anyway because AJ wasn’t ready. And more importantly, he didn’t have a trainer. So that is where we are. I don’t know why AJ can’t fight in September and then go and fight Wilder in Dubai afterwards. If AJ gets beat by Wilder in December, I don’t think [the fight will happen] because he’d have got beaten by a person Fury has beaten three times. This is the time to make the fight, this is what we should all be focusing on.”