It’s a novel idea. Perhaps naïve, too. But Anthony Joshua still says he’ll work as a sparring partner for Tyson Fury in Fury’s training camp for a rematch with Deontay Wilder, scheduled for Feb. 22.
Champions have long employed rising prospects and emerging contenders as sparring partners. Muhammad Ali sparred with Larry Holmes. But he didn’t spar with Joe Frazier or George Foreman.
Wladimir Klitschko sparred with Wilder and Joshua. But Holmes, Wilder and Joshua hadn’t developed into titleholders or even true contenders at the time they sparred with the reigning champs of their respective eras.
It’s unusual for rivals, both champions in their own right, to spar.
Joshua has all but one of the major acronym belts. Fury says he is the lineal champ, a claim based on his victory over Klitschko on Nov. 28. 2015 in Germany. They are U.K. rivals for what some are already calling the Battle of Britain. If the battle is destined to happen, wouldn’t Joshua in Fury’s camp be a little bit like the Germans joining the Brits on maneuvers before World War II?
But Joshua hasn’t withdrawn his offer to Fury. Meanwhile, Fury is already on record as saying he would welcome him into his camp.
“It’s all for experience at the end of the day,’’ Joshua told Sky Sports this week. “What I learned from myself and who I am – if I make a mistake once, I don’t make it again. With Fury, sparring him for the first time, maybe for my benefit. I might go in there and just batter him around the ring or he might batter me around the ring.
“If that is the case, I know I can take my notes and go back when I’m ready to fight him and correct all my wrongs. Everyone’s like ‘you wouldn’t do it.’ But no one knows how my brain works. Everyone talks from their own experiences, and I can only talk from my own.
“So, when I say I’ll go and spar Fury, it’s because I have a plan in my mind that no one will really understand.
“I’ll beat him.”
Which is exactly why Fury might not want him there.