Anthony Joshua has warned Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury that winter is coming for them sooner rather than later in boxing’s Game of Thrones.
The three heavyweights are on a collision course for the division’s major belts.
And the fighter who wins the ultimate battle will unify the division.
Joshua, who will fight Andy Ruiz Junior on June 1 after the Mexican-American agreed to replace drug cheat Jarrell Miller, would love boxing’s biggest soap opera to reach its conclusion this year.
The same year that the smash-hit HBO series reaches its own climax.
Wilder’s promoter Shelly Finkel played down the chances of that happening last week, though.
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And it now looks like being 2020 at the earliest before Joshua, the WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO champion, faces the WBC king in what would be an epic showdown.
Joshua said: “I have what they want: the four belts. And, in Game of Thrones, what’s going to happen if someone holds the most power?
“They rule the Seven Kingdoms.
“I’m giving these guys lucrative offers to fight me, which they can invest into their training, and they can come and fight me for the power in the division.
“And the people outside are looking at it and saying, ‘This is your chance, take it’. So I don’t know what’s happening and it’s the fans that are missing out – we’re playing the Game of Thrones, but I don’t know why.
“We have made offers to these people.
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“Wilder made an offer to us, but it was coming from him, not from the broadcaster or from his promotional outfit.
“We made an offer to Fury, but he didn’t want a percentage fee, he wanted a flat fee.
“Yet, when you work out what the percentage would have been, it would still have been higher in terms of the pot.
“We made an offer to Dillian Whyte, we made an offer to Luis Ortiz and he took far less to fight Wilder.
“We’re all trying to be the leader of the world, that’s where we’re trying to get to. But there are some complications along the way – you have governing bodies and powerful, powerful TV companies and everyone has their own vested interest.”
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For years, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao could not agree terms, but the pair finally sat down on their own and made the fight happen without outside interference.
But Joshua added: “I just don’t understand what sitting down with them would do, what more we can make out of it because we have made lucrative offers to fight these guys.”
Joshua could put up even more money to his potential opponents, but he maintains he won’t do that because he is the biggest draw.
He said: “I’ve done a lot of hard work.
“Not only in boxing but in the management company and the PR, I’ve worked tirelessly outside of the boxing ring.”
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