Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua has to happen as former world champ lays the blame at boxing matchmakers
Ricky Hatton knows time is running out to deliver the fight every boxing fan wants to see
Ricky Hatton has urged boxing matchmakers to pull out all the stops to finally make a long-awaited fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
And the former two-weight world champion is in no doubt about who is to blame for the failure to bring the two heavyweight stars together in the past 13 years.
Fury announced his retirement from the sport back in January following consecutive defeats to Ukrainian rival Oleksandr Usyk and insists he has hung up the gloves for good despite sharing videos of himself training in the gym.
Joshua on the other hand is currently recovering from an injury suffered in the wake of his devastating knockout loss to Daniel Dubois last September but is expected to make his ring return later this year.
Although both fighters are now past their prime, Hatton believes the fight will still attract a huge audience and reckons the only reason that the bout has never been finalised is down to the heavyweight stars' respective promoters - Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren.
Speaking to Betway, he said: "It must be Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn. Turki Alalshikh is putting down the money and lately, Frank and Eddie have been working together with the 5 v 5 which has been fantastic entertainment.
Turki, with respect, is the money man but is letting the people that know the boxing (finer details) put the shows on, but they won't get any more money than what they could now.
"Frank is Tyson's promoter, and Eddie is Anthony's promoter and Turki is saying here is the money so put the fight on. I can't get my head around why it isn't happening. It's left me scratching my head.
"I don't know what's gone on but you have to think why is it not happening because none of this makes sense. I can only put it on Eddie and Frank.
Tyson called it a day and I think we all took him with a pinch of salt. The fight has to be made now, we've been waiting 10, 12 years for it so are we going to wait another 12 months for it?"
Hatton added: "Tyson and AJ are getting older, a little bit more miles on the clock and I can't understand why it's not taking place? I don't think it can be the fighters. They won't get more money than what they could from Turki Alalshikh.
"There's only one fight I would like to see Anthony Joshua fight next and that is Tyson Fury. They should fight each other, and we have said for a number of years, boxing is the loser if the fight never happens and they're both at similar points in their career.
"Tyson has had better days, Anthony has had better days, and it'll still be as good of a fight, maybe even a better fight because they're both at similar stages of their careers.
"People will still pay to watch it and it'll still be a fantastic fight, but I only want to watch them fight each other and then they can put their feet up and enjoy what they worked so hard for and how proud they have made us all feel as British fight fans.
"I don't want to see them going on and on and having fight after fight. Just fight each other and get the f*** out of there as far as I am concerned."
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