By Jeff Aronow: Tyson Fury is upset about how his negotiations with IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua have been dragging on month after month, seemingly without end for their mega-fight in June.
WBC champion Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) wants the negotiations to be done already, and he’s unhappy about his extended period of activity. It would help Fury if he were to lose pounds before getting in the ring with Joshua, considering he looks soft right now.
Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) will have an advantage over him with his recent fight against Kubrat Pulev last December, whereas with Fury, he’s not fought since February 2020. Joshua, 30, has a huge advantage over Fury in the activity department and conditioning.
While Joshua’s physique is looking like an Adonis statue, Fury has a dad’s body, the look of a non-athlete that has spent a lot of time on the couch, eating sweets.
It’s probably too late for Fury, 32, to change his mind about fighting Joshua in the summer, as this match is like a machine now with numerous management people, team members, and lawyers on both sides.
It can’t be stopped at this point. The only thing Fury can do is try his best and hope that he can quickly shake the cobwebs off once he gets inside the ring with Joshua.
“I think it was just frustration that if this fight doesn’t get signed and sealed by the end of April, then he’s losing time because he’s 19-20 months out. If there’s a fight in July, he’s been out for 18 months,” said journalist Gareth A. Davies to DAZN.
“Privately, he told me that deal would be done a few days ago. He gave it until the end of February only because he didn’t get a December fight. We’ve only now just passed the anniversary of a year since he fought Deontay Wilder.”
Fury will have to be an adult about this and realize that sometimes fighters have to go into important fights without the ideal preparation. Look at boxing great Muhammad Ali. He took on Joe Frazier in 1971 in just his third fight back from a three-year break from boxing.
Fury is no stranger to inactivity. He was out of the sport for almost three years after his career-best win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
“Activity is one of the key discussions in boxing at the moment. We’re seeing champions struggle because of covid. So it’s pure frustration,” said Davies.
What could be the real problem with Fury is the worry that he has about the fight with Joshua, as he’s got to know this is a bad match-up for him on paper. No matter much preparation Fury has for this fight, it doesn’t look good for him on paper.
One good thing Fury has going for him that most fighters don’t is he’s going to get a rematch with AJ. So even if Fury loses badly and is humiliated in their first fight by Joshua, he’ll get a chance to right the wrongs in the rematch.
Of course, if Joshua twice knocks out Fury, that’s going to make it tough for him to come back from.
It’s a double-edged sword, the rematch that Fury will get against AJ. Yeah, Fury will get a shot at avenging the loss, but if he’s beaten again, it’s going to be difficult for him to come back from the defeats.
Joe Frazier’s career was never the same after he was beaten twice by George Foreman. Likewise, Mike Tyson’s career wasn’t the same after his two defeats against Evander Holyfield.
It might be better for Fury if he doesn’t take the rematch with Joshua if he loses the first fight by a one-sided decision if he’s knocked out.