Tyson Fury claims Deontay Wilder snubbed their heavyweight rematch before Fury himself opted not to face world champion.
The pair fought to a controversial draw last December with Fury denied victory by the judges.
A second meeting was all but signed before Fury agreed a deal with ESPN and a fight with the unknown Tom Schwarz instead.
But Fury now claims Wilder had agreed his own three-fight deal before Fury moved the goalposts.
"We were very close to a rematch. We had contracts, they had contracts, we were trying to agree terms," he told ESPN .
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"All of a sudden I had a massive deal from ESPN and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
"That would've been in May I believe.
" Deontay Wilder apparently signed a three-fight deal before I signed an ESPN deal.
"He signed a deal to fight Dominic Breazeale, Luis Ortiz and Adam Kownacki, so this was all done even before I put pen to paper.
"I've got a few fights on ESPN, and hopefully I'll stick with ESPN throughout my full career.
"If the fighters are willing to fight then why should the networks get in the way?
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"Fighters use that as an excuse, AKA Anthony Joshua, he uses that a lot as an excuse.
"But I believe if the fighters really want to fight each other they will, as I proved. I was on BT Sport and came over to United States and boxed on Showtime."
Wilder knocked out Breazeale in New York on Saturday with a stunning one-punch KO in the first round.
He is expected to take on Ortiz for a second time having stopped the Cuban in the 10th round last year.
That means a fight with Fury or Joshua will have to wait until 2020.
