Anthony Joshua Offers Sparring; Fury Accepts!
UPDATE 12/17/2019
Well the plot has officially thickened! Since the original publishing this piece, Tyson Fury has formally accepted Anthony Joshua’s offer to join him in camp. Via a video on social media, the Gypsy King personally left a direct message to Joshua and even insisted that he hoped the offer was sincere.
Now, it will be truly interesting to see what Joshua does now. The heavyweight division is most definitely becoming the talk of the town!
ORIGINAL PUBLICATION
In an odd turn of events, the newly reestablished WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO world heavyweight champion Anthony “AJ” Joshua (23-1, 21 KO’s) has offered his sparring services to Tyson “Gypsy King” Fury (29-0-1, 20 KO’s) for his next fight.
Fury has an upcoming rematch with WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KO’s) on February 22, 2020. The proposition is odd because Joshua claims that he wants to fight the winner of that bout. So, it’s curious that he would go so far out of his way to help the Gypsy King prepare.
TIT FOR TAT
Of course there is a method to the madness here. According to AJ, as he told Sky Sport News, this is in line with his quest for undisputed. In his estimation, Fury would fight him before Wilder. This is the reason why he wants Fury to win. It is also that rationale that led him to offering his sparring services. While that all sounds good, this is more than likely a case of pay back.
“I think Tyson Fury would fight me quicker than Wilder would. So, if that’s the case, I want Fury to win because I just wanna fight.
“Fury, if you need me, if you need me for sparring, I’ve sparred Fury when we were kids anyway.
“I’d go out to America, spar Fury and get him ready for this Wilder fight. I would like that fight because I think Fury would fight me faster than Wilder would.”
Ahead of Joshua’s do-or-die rematch with Andy “Destroyer” Ruiz Jr (33-2, 22 KO’s), Wilder essentially said the same thing, only he was backing Ruiz.
The Bomber spoke of the their two teams failure to reach an agreement in the past and felt as though the Destroyer and his representatives would be easier to deal with.
AJ clearly derailed the Destroyer option when he subjected the shamefully out of shape Ruiz to a twelve-round boxing clinic. Now that Joshua has the same front row seat, he didn’t waste this opportunity to join team petty!
“This is the man I need to pin down to get the last ring so I can conquer this division as I’ve set out to do from day one.
“When he’s ready, as I am, I would love to be facing off with Deontay Wilder because it’s not even about me now, it’s gone past that.
“This is about sport and legacy. If he wants to create his legacy and be a future Hall of Famer, he should come see us.”
WHAT IF?
It will be interesting to see how the Gypsy King responds. Maybe he is going to call AJ a “big dumb dosser” and tell him to kick rocks. That’s the square my milk money is on.
Yet, the plot would certainly thicken if Fury took him up on the offer. The former unified heavyweight champion has definitely been a consistent wild card of late.
The Gypsy King has just nixed his fairly recently acquired trainer Ben Davison, he made a quick foray into the WWE and has openly flirted with the idea of trying his hand at MMA. There simply is no telling what Fury will do next.
Granted there is not a high probability that they would fight, however, Dereck “War” Chisora (32-9, 23 KO’s) supplied his sparring skills to AJ in his latest preparation for the Ruiz rematch.
Chisora is both an active heavyweight and solid top ten fighter. So maybe the UK bruisers just put more energy into national pride than they do professional rivalries!
In the end, probably very little will come out it, but it is fun to speculate on the oddball possibilities.
By: Bakari Simpson
