Berlin, Germany - Wladimir Klitschko said Wednesday he will take legal action against world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in a dispute over the contract for their rematch.
After Klitschko suffered his first defeat in a decade last November, the rematch against Fury had been scheduled for July 9 in Manchester, but the British fighter cried off the second bout with an ankle injury.
The rematch is now set to take place on October 29, but the Fury camp is disputing the terms of the contract, according to Hamburg-based Klitschko.
"Unfortunately, Team Fury is trying to change the terms of an already-signed contract, multiple times, and it's going on endlessly,” said the Ukrainian on Wednesday in a video message on Twitter.
"To protect my own rights and to see the rematch, I’m forced to go to court."
The Fury camp has yet to respond, but Klitschko's manager Bernd Boente confirmed they are taking legal action.
"We have a valid contract, but Fury is suddenly making absurd claims," he told SID, an AFP subsidiary.
"I don't know if they are trying to get out of the fight in any way."
Boente says the new date of October 29 is "feasible for all parties".
Fury was provisionally suspended in June by the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) organisation, over the presence of a banned substance during a urine sample taken in February, but the suspension has been lifted pending a hearing, set to take place on November 4.
The 27-year-old British fighter has threatened to sue UKAD and the boxing authorities over reports he had used a performance-enhancing substance.
According to UK media reports, Fury, who holds the WBA Super, WBO and IBO heavyweight belts, was found to have high levels of the nandrolene, which can be taken as an anabolic steroid, in a sample taken before he beat Klitschko. - AFP