Eddie Hearn has slammed Tyson Fury for his antics in the ongoing discussions for a bout against Anthony Joshua, saying he has been left "baffled by the situation".

Fury had initially set Joshua a deadline of Monday to sign the contract for a December 3 bout and said discussions were "officially over" after the paperwork was not received.

However, the WBC heavyweight champion then backtracked on Thursday and issued his compatriot another deadline for the 'Battle of Britain' bout, giving him until the end of the day to agree terms.

An imminent end to the saga seems unlikely, however, with Joshua's promoter Hearn questioning why the Gypsy King was setting "unrealistic deadlines".

"I don't want to get involved with back and forths that are going to negatively impact this fight being made, but to be honest, we are quite baffled by the situation," he told Sky Sports.

"Firstly, when we agreed terms for the fight, it took us over a week to receive a draft contract. We have not had that contract for 14 days.

"Over the next week, we've worked tirelessly and had a number of meetings with Queensberry to get the contract in some kind of decent shape. 

"Last Monday, we sent our final draft of the contract to Queensberry, only to see that Fury had publicly pulled out of the fight and it was no longer on the table.

"Yesterday we then received comments back from Queensberry on our final draft of the agreement, of which is now being reviewed.

"I'm not sure why Fury keeps setting unrealistic deadlines whilst also offering the fight to a number of other heavyweights for the selected date. 

"If he is serious about the fight being made, I suggest he allows Matchroom and Queensberry to keep working hard to make the fight, of which everyone has been trying hard to do.

"You can't publicly keep pulling out of a fight and then restart negotiations when there has been so many positive conversations had. We'll see what happens from here."