Tyson Fury want Anthony Joshua to make up his mind: “Is it about belts or fighting people?”
WBC heavyweight champion Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury (30-0-1, 21ko) is gearing up for the upcoming trilogy against former champion Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (42-1-1, 41ko). However, he had a response to former unified champion Anthony “AJ” Joshua’s post-fight comments about wanting to fight him without the belts.
HOW DID WE GET HERE
Boxing fans spent the first half of this year watching the drama-filled saga of the supposed undisputed fight between Fury and then unified champion Joshua. The boxing community believed we were going to get the first-ever undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era.
Nonetheless, the boxing God’s gut-punched fans again with news of a third-party arbitrator ruling in favor of Wilder. This killed all hope for the undisputed fight and set plans in motion for the upcoming trilogy.
Eddie Hearn reshuffled the deck and moved forward with the WBO mandatory fight against former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13ko). Fans and pundits believed this was a dangerous fight for Joshua, and with good reasons. Usyk put on a boxing clinic en route to dethroning Joshua in front of the United Kingdom fans in attendance to become the new unified champion.
Joshua still expressed wanting to fight both Fury and Wilder, with or without belts, during the post-fight interview.
“As I said, I’ll fight Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, without the belts.”
TYSON FURY IS NOT BUYING WHAT JOSHUA IS SELLING
Fury, during the media week blitz, called BS on the post-fight comments from Joshua on an interview with Behind the Gloves. The charismatic British champion did not hold back at all in reminding everyone that AJ once upon a time had a different outlook.
“Well, this is coming from a guy who got no belts now, but before, it was like, ‘I don’t care who the fighter is, it’s all about the belts and the road to undisputed’, all that bullshit. It was never about Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder for Anthony Joshua. He was always about the belts.
Now he does not have any belts, he needs to win some because if it’s about belts, then it’s about belts. But if it’s about fighting people, then it’s about fighting people. He contradicts himself quite a bit.”
Fury made it clear that he is fully focused on the upcoming trilogy fight, and he will be the victor regardless of who stands across the ring.
“Whoever we fight, we fight. I have only got Deontay Wilder on my mind right now, and that is a dangerous task. Apart from that, we will see what happens in the future with these guys. It does not really matter who I fight to be honest, the outcome will always be the same.”
In fairness to Joshua, this was not the first time he hinted at fighting the Gypsy King without a belt. In 2020, he hinted at dropping the WBO title and forgoing a fight with Usyk, if the fans would rather see him square off against Fury. He also said the same about Wilder within the same month.
By: Garrisson Bland
