Frank Warren: 50-50 for Joshua Is Generous
When Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO’s) went to rematch Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KO’s), many thought his skill would earn him a well-fought decision win. Next to no one envisioned Fury storming the ring and crumpling the former WBC champion up like an industrial car crusher. Yet, foreseen or not, that is exactly what transpired.
THE BEST TO EVER DO IT
And with the thrilling victory, few are more jazzed than Fury’s UK promoter Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions. Warren thought that Fury easily won the initial contest and was adamant that he would walk away with a confirmed win in the second go around. Now that it’s all said and done, Frank Warren believes that the Gypsy King’s dominant victory was exceptional on a historical level
“In my time in boxing, and I’ve in been in with some really big fighters and fights, this is without a doubt the best performance of a British fighter abroad, ever.”
BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY
Now that Fury has usurped Wilder’s WBC title, the first natural question becomes: will Fury fight Anthony “AJ” Joshua to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion? It certainly is a fight that the fans would love to see and it would have to be a major payday for each combatant. However, there are already roadblocks in the way. While Fury has an open schedule, Joshua does not.
Before the unified champion can hop in the ring with Fury, he must first satisfy a pair of mandatory challenges in the form of Oleksandr Usyk and Kubrat Pulev. Pulev will be the first at bat. Unless however, Joshua vacates his belt or conjures up a hefty bag of step aside money. In his opinion, Warren would be happiest if Joshua simply vacated to avoid another potential disaster.
“If I were him, I wouldn’t fight. I’d even vacate the belts, he should not take the risk. I prefer him [Anthony Joshua] not to take the risk.”
NOT ON OUR LEVEL
In the event that Fury and Joshua do make it to the negotiation table, there is no question that Warren will be viewing his man as the unquestionable A-side.
“Who’s the number one heavyweight in the world, honestly? I’m biased, it’s him [Tyson Fury]. I’m not stupid, he is the number one, by far, heavyweight in the world. So 50-50 would be generous to give him 50-50.
Really Joshua is small goods. Everyone seen what happened in New York and he come back and beat a guy who trained in his fridge…I’m not taking anything away from Joshua, he trained well and did what he had to do. But this is a different fighter, he’s the number one heavyweight, we’d probably be generous to go 70-30.”
It goes without saying that Eddie Hearn and Team Joshua will take offense to being afforded a 70-30 split. However, we will just have to wait and see how this plays out with first Kubrat Pulev and then Tyson Fury.
By: Bakari Simpson
