'You tried to get out of it... I checkmated you!' - Fury and AJ face-off at last

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua traded taunts about the protracted negotiations for their long-awaited fight at a lively first press conference in London.

The British heavyweight rivals finally met the cameras, exchanging barbs over the repeated delays that have pushed back their bout.

Fury and Joshua will fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Friday, December 11. Both men presented their own accounts of why the boxing world waited for this clash.

Fury commented on the build-up, saying, "Eddie [Hearn] and AJ were talking about landlords, being the boss, the 'guvnor', the rent man and all that. When I look behind me, I only see one don, and that's Fury vs AJ. Now you've come to get the rent, and I ain't paying because I'm No 1." He added, "I don't make a big thing about all that, but we're going to walk out seeing Tyson Fury versus his opponent Anthony Joshua – an old dosser who works for me."

Joshua interjected, stating, "I got a phone call the other night and they said, 'Do you mind if Fury's name goes first, because he's unwilling to sign unless he does'."

Fury responded, "Behind the scenes, you've been crying like little girls over A-sides and B-sides. I want this, I want that! You have tried everything to get out of this fight, every move in the book. And now I've checkmated you!"

Addressing fight tactics, Fury declared an aggressive approach for a quick knockout. "I'm going to come out and blast him out there," Fury stated. "It will be Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the best man will win because I'm not going to run away and I'm not going to box. I'm going to throw down! From what I'm seeing, I'm going to catch him, and when I do, it's going to be curtains."

Joshua welcomed Fury's prediction, viewing it as motivation. "This is the energy that we want," Joshua said. "There's nothing else I'd expect from this man than him to say he's going to render me unconscious and do everything he can to stick me to the canvas. This is what will keep me running, keep me sparring, and keep me doing those extra rounds in the gym."

Fury: It's the icing on the cake!

The two former unified champions, Fury at 38 and Joshua at 36, face each other in the later stages of their careers. Fury dismissed notions that the fight has lost significance.

"It has been 10 years in the making," he said. "The rise has been phenomenal for both fighters – we've both had our ups and downs – and we arrive at this moment. Is it too late? It's not too late. It's the icing on the cake of two great careers, to throw down in front of 80,000 people, and may the best man win. Let's go out swinging."

Joshua, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion, believes his past fights have prepared him. "People have their views, and views are respected, but that's their opinion," he said. "I can only listen to myself, and nobody knows more about boxing than me. I'm great, I'm good. I've been from gym to gym and from coach to coach, and I can honestly say I've learned so much. I'm going to take everything I've learned into this fight."