Fury says Joshua loses to Usyk
When it comes to WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson “Gypsy King” Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO’s) it is very well known that he does not mince words. Whether talking about his in-ring triumphs, personal demons or opinion of other fighters, Fury likes to go straight for the jugular. This proved to be the case once again while conducting a recent interview with Behind the Gloves.
When questioned on who he thought would prevail in a bout between Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KO’s) and WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO world heavyweight champion Anthony “AJ” Joshua (23-1, 21 KO’s), he did not fail to entertain!
[when asked if Usyk beats Joshua] “Yeah, if they fight, but I bet they don’t. Because why would he fight Usyk and get paid like ten percent of what he can make off the Gypsy King? Forget the belt, vacate it. Let them boys fight for the vacant belt, whoever it is, Usyk and Parker, and then fight big time! We’re not in this boxing to fight unknown guys. We’re in this boxing to fight the biggest, best fights out there at this level.”
MANDATORY MINEFIELD
This was a colossal statement for a number of reasons. To begin, he tabs Joshua to lose to Usyk, who is brand new in the heavyweight division. While the talented Ukrainian impressively fought his way to become the undisputed cruiserweight champion, he left a lot to be desired in his premiere heavyweight bout versus Chazz “The Gentleman” Witherspoon (38-4, 29 KO’s).
However, the meatiest portion of his statement was advising Joshua to drop his belts as to avoid the politics of mandatory challengers. At the moment, Usyk is the mandatory for AJ’s WBO strap. Yet, before that bout can take place, Joshua would first have to topple IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev (28-1, 14 KO’s) on December 12.
WHAT DO YOU RESPECT?
On the one hand, there is sound logic in this course of action. If that is, that the two fighters were only concerned with making the best fights that the fans want to see immediately. From that angle, Fury is focused only on the business of boxing and not historical legacy.
On the other hand, Joshua may truly harbor the personal goal of becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. And who could blame him? Obviously, that goal no longer holds any motivation for Fury. Yet, it is easy to not want something when you do not value it.
“See, all this undisputed bullshit, I’m not really too convinced about it. I’ve won every belt there is to win and having another stack of belts that I already own don’t really mean shit to me. So rather than fight all these mandatories that he’s got, I’d say just vacate those belts and fight the fight that everyone wants to see!
I ain’t running from you, I don’t care about you! I’ll go through you like a hot knife through butter! So come and fight the big boys, step up to the plate and get knocked out, then go and fight all those easy guys.”
While Fury has provided another quote that is primed to go viral, it’s rather unlikely that Joshua will deviate from his present course of action. So for those who are on the edge of their seat pining to see Joshua v Fury, you’ll just have to keep your fingers crossed and hope that both win their next few fights!
By: Bakari Simpson
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