Former world champion and current Sky Sports boxing pundit Johnny Nelson doesn't believe the long-awaited domestic heavyweight dust-up between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will happen.
After years of speculation, it appeared as though a deal had finally been agreed for the British behemoths to lock-horns earlier this year when a landmark announcement was made revealing contracts had been signed.
However, fight fans are still no nearer to seeing the pair trade leather inside the ring as their respective promoters remain at loggerheads as to where they feel the event should be staged.
Team Joshua are adamant that the bout should take place on British soil, as per the original agreement, whilst Fury's promoters Queensberry are keen for New York City's Madison Square Garden to host the colossal card.
It's understood there was an earlier willingness from Hearn to renegotiate terms for a stateside fight, although his stance has since shifted as a consequence of the online backlash from British boxing fans.
Now, as the saga continues to rumble on with Fury revealing he is pursuing other fights -- notably a potential trilogy with Oleksandr Usyk -- Nelson has revealed his reasons as to why he feels the long-mooted affair won't take place.
"No, I don't it will happen," he told Sky Sports on Wednesday.
Unless the other side decides to lay down and say: 'You know what, we'll give you what you want'. No, I don't.
- Johnny Nelson (Sky Sports)
"I think Anthony Joshua and [his promotional team] Matchroom Boxing have every reason to stand their ground.
"Firstly, because you look at Anthony Joshua's last performance; that doesn't fill you with confidence.
"Secondly, because they've signed a contract and so, if they're going to embark on this fight, they're going to say: 'This is what we asked for; if you don't want to do it, that's a you problem'."
Nelson, who held the WBO cruiserweight title for an unprecedented seven years between 1999 and 2006, also feels the concerning manner of Joshua's recent performance against Kristian Prenga affords his team even greater reason to stand their ground in the dispute.
"Anthony Joshua has said to Eddie Hearn, 'We've got a contract; stick to the contract. No nudging; this is what we're doing,'" he went on to say.
"I think that the chance of the fight happening is less and less.
"If I were Team AJ, I'd do the same, because AJ's performance didn't fill me with complete and utter belief that this will go our way.
"I'm quite sure if it was the other way around and Tyson Fury was the one who performed as AJ did in his last fight, even though he fought the night before, I'm quite sure this wouldn't be as much of an issue."
