Anthony Joshua took a mighty dump on Tyson Fury’s career so far despite ‘The Gypsy King’ cracking America and becoming one of the best heavyweights of the modern era.
Fury elevated his status on the world stage with a demolition job on Deontay Wilder last month. Despite his fellow-Brit’s exploits, Joshua refused to give Fury credit.
In a paid interview for Land Rover, one of many of Joshua’s sponsorship deals, the Londoner reduced Fury’s excellent 30-0-1 ‘big fights at the right time’ record to just a pair of decent victories.
“Congratulations to him on his last performance. He’s had two good fights in his career, in my opinion, against Klitschko and Deontay Wilder,” said Joshua in the video clip. “He’s managed to win them both so he’s on a high right now.”
The possibility of sour grapes come into play for Joshua, who lost badly in 2019 before being criticized for the way he regained his titles.
Fury has now overtaken AJ by a wide margin on the world scene and it seems to be the 30-year-old, alongside promoter Eddie Hearn, who chase a fight with the top dog.
Despite having mandatory challengers coming out of his ears, Joshua has called out Fury of late, knowing full well he’ll be unable to follow through.
Joshua has to fight Kubrat Pulev and then Oleksandr Usyk. It seems nothing will be able to halt that double unless belts are dropped.
Dillian Whyte also has to be given a shot at Fury, something Joshua and Hearn are willing to completely disregard.
This latest outburst and disrespect will only add fuel to the Fury fire, though, for when the UK super-fight actually takes place.
Provided Fury doesn’t retire first, the Joshua offering may be on the table for the late summer of 2021. It all depends on how things pan out before then.
The WBA is sure to call a stipulation soon also, given the fact Joshua fought Alexander Povetkin in September 2018. By the time Pulev and Usyk are dealt with, the WBA number one will possibly have to be next. Therefore, it could be late 2021 or even 2022 when Fury and Joshua trade blows.
Despite all his obvious obligations, Joshua believes they can all be bypassed for Fury.
“The fight can happen when Tyson Fury gets past Deontay Wilder. And when I get past Kubrat Pulev,” Joshua assured viewers. “If Fury wants that fight to happen, he will make it happen.”
Whenever it does go down, Joshua has stated he’ll be ready for it.
“He has to be careful what he wishes for because the young gunners are coming up. They will definitely take that Tyson Fury challenge with both hands.
“We’re keen, we always like to put on big events. We cater for the boxing community so that’s (Fury fight) something that we’ll take really seriously.”
