Tyson Fury accused Deontay Wilder of looking for a way out of Saturday's WBC heavyweight title fight after the two had to be separated at the conclusion of a heated press conference.
The two fighters' entourages became involved as shoves were exchanged and the challenger removed his shirt.
There was little question that Morecambe fighter Fury had consistently remained the more composed of the two, but he later insisted Wilder was attempting to provoke him to throw a punch that could have left Saturday's fight in jeopardy.
Wilder remains undefeated in his 40 fights as a professional but Fury, at Los Angeles' Staples Centre, will represent his most challenging opponent, and he said: "I believe Wilder wanted me to aim the left hook so that the fight would be cancelled.
"He wanted to trick me into hitting him so that he could get out of the fight.
"I'm not going to make that mistake – I'm not going to lose my purse.
"Wilder's nervous; he felt he needed to scream and shout and make threats.
"We're fighting men but he had his big team there.