A heavyweight rivalry is simmering between British and Commonwealth ring king Tyson Fury and former amateur standout and current WBA champion Aleksandr Povetkin.
The Russian fighter has reportedly wanted to face Styal star Fury, and his camp has since issued statements claiming the latter is ducking him.
Povetkin recently slammed the 6ft 9in Fury, claiming he feels no trepidation over a boxer whose most notable hit is ‘punching himself in the face on Youtube.’
And Fury, who has a prefect 16-0 record with 11 knockouts, has responded in kind.
"Before my promoter Mick Hennessy had finalised my fight against Neven Pajkic, he received a call from Sauerland Events who asked would we be interested in making the Povetkin fight for December," his statement claimed.
"They were told that we were very interested in the fight but they would need to come back with an offer very quickly as we were close to finalising my next fight.
"But to this day my promoter has not received any kind of offer so we had to proceed with my Commonwealth title defence.
"I stand by my comments, Povetkin isn’t in my league and I believe his team knows that. I would take him apart; it would be an easier night’s work than I had against Dereck Chisora."
