Tony Bellew has praised Anthony Joshua for the way he has handled negotiations with Tyson Fury.
The pair have agreed to meet in the ring on December 3 in Cardiff in what is expected to be one of the biggest fights in British boxing history.
However, the Gypsy King sensationally claimed the fight was officially OFF on Monday after AJ failed to sign his contract before the deadline of 5pm. Despite this, Matchroom Boxing and Queensberry Promotions are reportedly working hard behind the scenes to get the deal over the line.
Bellew, 39, is not surprised by Fury's actions given 'the amount of attention' he has received in recent weeks.
READ MORE: Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua: Eddie Hearn 'not very confident' as contract talks stall
However, he praised Joshua for 'keeping it professional' despite Fury's recent antics.
Boxing News - Tony Bellew praises Anthony Joshua for 'keeping it professional' during Tyson Fury negotiations
Tony Bellew has praised Anthony Joshua for the way he has handled negotiations with Tyson Fury
"I'm not surprised about the situation; Fury is a showman and he's turning this into the Fury Show," he told The Daily Mail. "Looking at the publicity around the fight, that's not even an official fight yet, it's madness.
"It's on, it's off… all I can see is that AJ is keeping it professional. His camp has already stated that the contract couldn't be signed on Monday or today. Fury knows this so it's all in the name of publicity.
"At the end of the day, Tyson Fury has tried to face everybody and anybody. Anthony Joshua's done the exact same thing, but with slightly less success. The thing with AJ is, as Fury knows, when you back Joshua into a corner, he'll face whoever whenever.
"Fury knows that Joshua is game, and he also knows that he wants to go ahead with the fight, but obviously, as we've heard, the paperwork around fights like this are significant, and important, and until all is ironed out an announcement can't be made.
"So in the meantime, Fury has somehow decided to take matter into his own hands and start the build-up himself."
READ MORE: Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk: Deontay Wilder talks rivals ahead of boxing return
'Joshua's a machine and a phenomenal athlete," he added. "He's always in shape and therefore doesn't have warmup fights.
"He's always training, and he always wants the next best and biggest possible challenge.
"And when the next biggest and possible challenge is Tyson Fury, he's not going to shy away from it.
"However, it will be interesting to see how these negotiations go, and where they go. It's all been on Tyson Fury before as we remember.
"For example, everything was set in Saudi Arabia before AJ's first Usyk fight. We were all ready to go, and then Fury's team pull the plug last minute because of legal proceedings that they knew that was already in place. So although Fury is saying it's all on AJ…is it really though?!?'."
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