By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua says he thinks Tyson Fury will beat Deontay Wilder in their rematch on February 22, and he’s volunteering to help him with sparring to prepare for the fight. Joshua wants Fury to win because he thinks it’ll be a bigger fight between them in the UK than if he were to face Deontay.
Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) is going to need all the help he can get for him to defeat WBC heavyweight champion Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs), considering that he was knocked out by Deontay in the 12th round last December. The referee assigned to the fight Jack Reiss didn’t stop the contest, but Fury was clearly knocked out. The fight arguably should have been stopped on the spot, as Fury was badly hurt.
Joshua vs. Fury will only do big numbers in the UK
A fight between Joshua and Fury would likely be far smaller on the global scale than if AJ were to fight Wilder. Fury is only popular in the UK. So by Joshua fighting him, it would only do big numbers in the UK, but not in the U.S. However, if Joshua faces Wilder, the fight would do well in the U.S AND in the UK. The end result would likely see bigger numbers for a Joshua-Wilder fight than Joshua-Fury, because the U.S audience would be involved and not just the UK.
Joshua: Fury “might” defeat Deontay Wilder
“I think he [Fury] might beat Wilder next time, and I think Fury would fight me quicker than Wilder would, so if that’s the case I want Fury to win,” said Joshua to Sky Sports Boxing. “I think to have that fight here on British soil is mad. Can you imagine that?”
It doesn’t appear that Joshua heard Fury’s recent comments about his next 3 fights being in the United States. Obviously, Joshua isn’t going to be able to fight Fury in the UK if his next 3 fights are ALL taking place in the United States of America. There will be a trilogy match between Fury and Wilder in the second half of 2020 following their February fight. After that, Fury will finish out his last fight on his current contract with ESPN and Top Rank against a still to be determined opponent.
Joshua would still need to give Fury a 50-50 split
If Joshua’s sole reason for rooting for Fury to beat Wilder is for money purposes, it might not work in his favor. Fury will likely want a 50-50 deal just the same as Wilder for a fight against Joshua. As such, Joshua won’t come out ahead by fighting Fury rather than Wilder.
Even if Fury beats Wilder twice in 2020, Joshua likely won’t have a chance to fight him until 2021. Who knows if Joshua will still be a world champion by that time.
Joshua, who just recaptured his IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles with a win over Andy Ruiz Jr., and wants Fury to win because it would set-up a big fight between them in the UK. In other words, Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) prefers that Fury wins for selfish reasons, because it means a potentially bigger fight in the UK.
Joshua volunteers to help Tyson Fury with sparring
“Fury, 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,” said Joshua.
The way that Joshua fights is totally different from the 6’7″ Wilder. Moreover, Joshua has a much different physique than the American. Wilder is lean, fast and doesn’t have a body-builder frame like Joshua. It might actually hurt Fury by using Joshua as his sparring partner.
Fury needs guys that are build like Wilder, and who have hand speed and right hand power. Joshua is slow on his feet, and he pushes his shots due to all that muscle that he carries around. The only reason Joshua looked fast in his last fight against Ruiz is because the guy came into the rematch so fat, and out of shape. Ruiz weighed in at 283 lbs on the Friday before the fight, and it’s believed by some that he was in the 290s during the contest.