By Jeff Aronow: Tyson Fury says he’s optimistic that a unification fight with heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will happen in 2021. Fury encourages AJ to be brave and sign the contract so they can fight in the first half of next year.
Fury is upset that Joshua, 30, wasted an opportunity to start marketing their fight in 2021 by letting the interviewers known after his knockout win over Kubrat Pulev last Saturday night that he plans on fighting ‘The Gypsy King” next.
Joshua didn’t mention Fury, and he seemed distracted by the crowd when being interviewed afterward.
Joshua paying Fury back
It’s quite possible that Joshua’s decision not to start selling the Fury fight immediately was payback due to Tyson’s decision not to attend his fight against Pulev at Wembley Stadium
That’s what Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn was hoping Fury would do because then he could climbed into the ring and stood for a face-off and done some trash-talking.
Fury said he had no interest in attending the Joshua vs. Pulev fight, and instead, he was going to train.
With behavior like that from Fury, it’s not all that surprising that Joshua was also indifferent when asked about a fight with him. It looked like a case of payback by Joshua, but it’s also possible that he’s got other plans for his next fight.
“I watched the fight, I was very impressed with what he did,” said Fury to Good Morning Britain about Joshua’s knockout win over 39-year-old Pulev.
“It came to the end of the fight when they did the interview, the public heard that he wanted to fight me and he avoided the question, which was a bit disappointing as it’s been building up over the years,” Fury continued in expressing disappointment about Joshua not using the spotlight on him to start hyping the Fury fight.
AJ needs to defend against Usyk
Joshua still needs to defend against his WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk if he wants to hold onto his WBO strap.
If Joshua doesn’t face Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs), he’s going to be stripped of his WBO title by the World Boxing Organization, considering that the organization has already given him two exceptions to face Andy Ruiz Jr in a rematch last December and then take on Pulev last weekend.
The WBO isn’t going to give Joshua another two exceptions to face Fury twice in 2021 while making Usyk wait until 2022 or possibly latter for his title shot.
It’s reasonable to assume that when 2022 rolls around, whoever has the WBO title by that point in time, will look for another exception so that hey can bypass Usyk yet again. It would be a running joke by that point, and it arguably always is with the number of times Usyk has been bypassed by Joshua.
Interestingly, the WBC heavyweight champion Fury (30-0, 21 KOs) predicts that he’ll knock out IBF/WBA/WBO champ Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) by the fourth round.
Last Saturday night, Fury, 32, predicted that he’d stop Joshua in three rounds following his ninth-round knockout of his IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev at the Wembley Arena in London, England.
AJ not enthusiastic about Fury fight
Joshua didn’t sound like that excited about facing Fury next when interviewed by Sky Sports Boxing moments after his four-knockdown performance against Pulev (28-2, 14 KOs).
When asked if he would be up for an undisputed championship fight, Joshua told the interviewer that he needs to speak with his manager and promoter Eddie Hearn to discuss those questions. Joshua didn’t mention Fury by name and left to Hearn to talk about his next fight.
“He [Joshua] avoided the question like he didn’t want the fight, so I had to get straight on social media and make everyone know I’m willing to take the fight,” said Fury in making it clear that he wants to fight Joshua next.
We don’t know what Joshua is thinking right now regarding potentially fighting next, but he may have other ideas for his next contest.
There’s a lot of pressure on Joshua, though, by Hearn, Matchroom, Sky Sports, and the boxing public all wanting to see him fight Fury next.
Can Joshua withstand the pressure?
It will be surprising if Joshua has the mental toughness to ignore the pressure and expectations being put on him to tell everyone that he will fight someone else rather than Fury next.
A fighter like Floyd Mayweather Jr or Canelo Alvarez would be willing to ignore the pressure from boxing fans and the media to avoid a dangerous opponent, as they’ve already done that many times.
But with Joshua, he seems to be more of a people-pleaser than Canelo and Mayweather, and he’ll likely agree to face Fury next, even if it’s not in his best interest to do so.
You have to say from watching Joshua’s performance against Pulev that he’s not ready for Fury yet.
Joshua needs a transition fight against a heavyweight that will get him ready for Fury’s style, and Pulev was not the right opponent to adequately prepare AJ.
“I’m very optimistic it will happen in 2021,” said Fury about Joshua. “Grow a pair and sign the contract, big boy! I’m aiming to take him out inside four rounds.
“I said it about Deontay Wilder; not many people listened,” Fury continued. “Anthony’s standing in my way of total supremacy in my era. He’s the only one left I haven’t beaten. Immortality awaits. I’m one win away from it.”
Fury still won’t be #1 after beating Joshua
If Fury beats Joshua, he still won’t be the top heavyweight because he’d need to beat Deontay Wilder in a trilogy. There would still be Joe Joyce, Filip Hrgovic, and the Alexander Povetkin vs. Dillian Whyte winner that he’d need to beat.
Fury may not be keeping up on things, but Andy Ruiz has already beaten Joshua, and he looked poor in the rematch with the American.
Joshua avenged his loss to Ruiz, but he looked timid. Last Saturday, Joshua looked almost as bad in beating a very, very old-looking Pulev.
Joshua not only looked afraid throughout the contest, but he gassed out after just three rounds and didn’t get his second wind until the ninth.
“I think it’s going to be one of the most explosive, quickest fights you’ll see. I’m aiming to take him out inside four rounds.,” said Fury in changing his knockout prediction of Joshua from three to now four rounds.
It would not be good for Fury to go right after Joshua in the first three to four rounds while he’s still fresh and at full power. The best tactic for Fury would be to bide his time in the early going and then go for the knockout of Joshua in the sixth or seventh.
Those are the rounds where Joshua has shown to have stamina problems. Joshua gets his second wind around the 8th, and it good for a couple of rounds before he gasses again.
If Fury pushes a fast pace early in the first three rounds, he could wear Joshua out quickly and get the knockout that he’s predicting. It would be risky, though, for Fury to do that.
It won’t be surprising if Joshua chooses to take the Usyk fight right now and let Fury deal with Deontay Wilder or make himself look bad by facing Agit Kabayel next.
If Joshua faces Usyk, it’s going to put pressure on Fury to take on a good opponent that has a chance of beating him.
Fighting Kabayel next would be a horrible public relations move on Fury’s part, as it would look like he’d ducking Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs), which is what a lot of boxing fans already believe to be the case.
If Fury is going to fight someone other than Wilder, he needs to take on a quality heavyweight like one of these fighters:
- Joe Joyce
- Daniel Dubois
- Alexander Povetkin
- Filip Hrgovic
- Michael Hunter
- Tony Yoka
- Andy Ruiz Jr
- Joseph Parker
Fury needs to forget about fighting lower-level opposition like Kabayel, Tom Schwarz, and Otto Wallin because he only makes himself look bad by doing so.