Tag: Fury Joshua

Tyson Fury confirms desire to make Anthony Joshua fight happen

Tyson Fury reiterated that he wants to face Anthony Joshua but reminded everyone that they must win their interim fights first.

Tyson Fury assured fans they’ll see an all-British heavyweight showdown with Anthony Joshua – if Deontay Wilder and Kubrat Pulev cooperate.

Fury vs. Joshua is the biggest possible fight in boxing but it can happen only if Fury defeats Wilder in their third fight and Joshua beats Pulev. Promoters are planning to stage those two fights before the end of the year, assuming coronavirus restrictions allow it.

“If I get knocked out by Deontay Wilder, then it won’t be on, will it?” Fury told Sky Sports. “It will be another fight with Wilder and so forth and so on. If he loses to Pulev, so close, but so far away. In heavyweight boxing, you can never count your chickens before they hatch, so one fight at a time, one victory at a time.

“All going well, God-willing, we get on the big fight with me and Joshua, the all-British showdown and I can give the fans what they want to see, especially the British fans. It will be the biggest fight since I believe Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno. It was a while ago, Cardiff Arms Park.”

Joshua has made it clear that he also wants to fight Fury. Joshua holds three of the four major belts, Fury the fourth.

“Yes, come fight me,” Joshua said. “If you really want to say you’re No 1, come fight me. Let’s get it on. I’ve got the rest of the belts so it only makes sense. I’m the unified heavyweight champion of the world, he’s the WBC champion. What it will prove, me and him fighting? There will be one dominant figure in the heavyweight division that will have all of the belts and become undisputed.

“Logically to prove yourself as No 1, I have to fight Tyson Fury. He has to fight Anthony Joshua.”

Anthony Joshua on facing Tyson Fury: ‘Just another opponent’

Anthony Joshua says he would approach an all-British heavyweight title-unification fight against Tyson Fury as just another fight.

Anthony Joshua acknowledged that an all-British showdown with Tyson will be perceived as a monumental encounter. From his perspective? No big deal.

Joshua even suggested in an interview with Britsh GQ that a meeting with Fury would’ve even be the biggest fight of his career. His biggest moments so far are victories over Wladimir Klitschko and Andy Ruiz Jr., the latter in a rematch of his stunning knockout loss.

“You know what? There are going to be bigger fights [than Fury] because I’m not going anywhere,” Joshua said. “I’m here to make history. I’m hungry and fired up. Fury is just another opponent at the end of the day. Yeah, it’s going to be big for everyone else, but I have to keep myself together and look at Fury like he’s just another fighter.

“But in terms of the spectacle, the trash-talking, two juggernauts coming together, I can’t wait.”

Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) won his first heavyweight title in spectacular fashion in April 2016, stopping then-beltholder Charlos Martin in only two rounds. Then, after two successful defenses, he got up from a knockdown to stop Klitschko in 11 rounds and become a major star.

He looked all but unstoppable in three subsequent title defenses and then disaster struck last June. A chubby Mexican-American got up from his own knockdown to put the champion on the canvas four times and stop him in seven rounds.

Everything Joshua had built had come crashing down. How he responded would determine the direction in which his career would go. And he responded well, easily outpointing an ill-prepared Ruiz in December to regain his titles and some of the respect he lost six months earlier.

Next up are separate fights for Fury and Joshua, who are expected to face Deontay Wilder and Kubrat Pulev before the end of the year at sites to be determined if the coronavirus pandemic allows it. If they win, they presumably will face one another in that huge event.

“I’ve tasted what being at the top of the mountain feels like, and I’ve tasted what being knocked off the mountain feels like,” he said. “I’ve climbed my way back up, and whoever steps in front of me now will know that I ain’t looking to go back down.

“So when I’m fighting Pulev and get the opportunity to fight with Tyson Fury for the WBC championship of the world, I think they are going to see what it feels for a man to have had it all, lost it and got it back. A man who has experienced those turbulences doesn’t want to go through that again.”

Eddie Hearn wants Deontay Wilder out of way when Fury-Joshua deal is struck

Eddie Hearn wants Deontay Wilder to be out of the picture when his fighter, Anthony Joshua, negotiates to fight Tyson Fury.

Eddie Hearn wants Deontay Wilder completely out of the picture when he sits down for negotiations for a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

Wilder was rumored to have been offered $10 million to step aside as Fury’s next opponent so “The Gypsy King” could go directly into an all-British showdown with Joshua, assuming Kubrat Pulev, Joshua’s scheduled opponent, also agreed to a deal.

That notion was dismissed by Bob Arum, Fury’s co-promoter. The step-aside offer is fiction, he said. And Hearn wouldn’t want it anyway. Presumably, had Wilder agreed to step aside, he would’ve  demanded the right to face the winner of Fury-Joshua.

Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, has a two-fight series between Fury and his client in mind.

“I think Bob Arum said in an interview … he doesn’t know where this number [of $10 million] has come from,” Hearn told IFL TV. “[Wilder has] said in interviews he won’t step aside. And with everything happening in terms of the uncertainty over the future of the world, let alone boxing, he’s not going to want to step aside.

“We also don’t want to enter into a deal where we say, ‘Oh, when we beat Tyson Fury, we have to face Deontay Wilder and he has to get 40%.’ Deontay Wilder is out. He’s done. He’s just a voluntary challenger. We want a clean slate when we enter into a deal, whether it’s a one-fight deal with Tyson or a two-fight deal. But when AJ beats Tyson Fury, we don’t want an obligation to fight Deontay Wilder. What’s he got to do with it?

“He’s done. He’s beaten. He’s just been knocked out. If he beats Tyson Fury, then we want to fight Deontay Wilder. But if he doesn’t, he’s just back into the rankings. He’s not coming into a fight with the undisputed champion. So in that respect it’s a lot easier for us just to have a clean slate, and everybody is on the same page with that as well.”

Fury knocked out Wilder in seven rounds in February, after which Wilder exercised a clause in their contract that allowed for a third fight between them. They are expected to meet again before the end of the year, as are Joshua and Pulev.

Video: Mannix, Mora: Can Anthony Joshua beat Tyson Fury?

Former heavyweight champ George Foreman recently said that he can’t see Anthony Joshua beating Tyson Fury in an all-British showdown. Is Foreman underestimating Joshua? The knock against Joshua is his brutal knockout loss against Andy Ruiz Jr., …

Former heavyweight champ George Foreman recently said that he can’t see Anthony Joshua beating Tyson Fury in an all-British showdown.

Is Foreman underestimating Joshua?

The knock against Joshua is his brutal knockout loss against Andy Ruiz Jr., after which Joshua’s mental toughness was questioned. However, Joshua  turned the table in the rematch, winning a wide decision to regain the belts he had lost.

Joshua is scheduled to defend his titles against Kubrat Pulev, although the date is uncertain.

Fury, meanwhile, is coming off a sensational knockout of Deontay Wilder in their rematch to emerge at the No. 1 heavyweight in the world in terms of public perception. They are expected to fight a third time.

In this episode of Jabs with Mannix and Mora, DAZN commentators Chris Mannix and Sergio Mora discuss Joshua’s chances against Fury.

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