Fury: 'Trilogy with Wilder was needed to avoid an $80 million lawsuit'

Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs), in an interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap, gave his side of the story behind the scenes from his unification fight with Anthony Joshua (24-1, 21 KOs) scheduled for this summer. "The Gypsy King" claims he had to back out of a confrontation with his compatriot because an arbitration ruling ordering him to duel Deontay Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) could result in him losing a lot of money.

"It wasn't about the [WBC] belt, it was about the contract. It had nothing to do with the belt. You know how much they wanted to sue me for if I didn't fight Wilder? 80 million!" - Fury stated.

"I was never optimistic about the duel with Joshua because of what was going on in the background. And everybody knew it - both Eddie Hearn and Joshua - and then all of a sudden it's all my fault," added the WBC heavyweight champion, who will face Wilder on October 9.