By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua says he’s going to give it his all in an attempt to make the fight with his British rival Tyson Fury before the end of his career.
Goodnews knows Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) has been trying for years to get the seemly reluctant Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) to face him, but it still hasn’t happened for one reason or another.
Joshua says he wants to make the fight with Fury for the sake of the world, as he believes the fans everywhere are anxious to see the two meet up.
That’s a debatable point, as some boxing fans can’t be bothered seeing the two of them fight. They’d rather watch an exciting heavyweight like Deontay Wilder mix it up with Joshua in a firefight that would result in one of the two giants getting sparked out with a massive shot.
Joshua & Fury can’t afford to lose
What interest there is from fans in a Joshua-Fury fight could drop drastically if one or both get beaten in their next fights.
If Fury gets sparked out by former WBC champion Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) on October 9th, it’s going to put a significant roadblock in front of a future Joshua-Fury fight.
Yeah, Joshua vs. Fury could still happen, but the fans will not be nearly as excited about seeing the contest with Tyson coming off a knockout loss to Deontay. In real terms, Fury would need to avenge his loss to Wilder before considering a match against Joshua.
The thing is, Fury’s career will hang by a thread in the fight with Wilder, and it could be over for him if the powerful American knocks him out again.
If Fury loses twice in a row to Wilder, you couldn’t give tickets away for a Joshua-Fury fight because no one would want to see that pathetic match. Fury would be on skidrow career-wise, and Joshua would be viewed as trying to give him a helping hand how of sympathy.
Joshua is defending his IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight titles against the ambitious former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) next week on September 25th at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in London, UK.
If you don’t believe that the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk has a real chance of winning this fight, you are incredibly naive. Usyk has an EXCELLENT chance of beating Joshua.
In many fans’ minds, Usyk is the equivalent of kryptonite to Joshua, and he’s got the ability to wear the heavily muscled champion down and knock him out.
“I’ll promise before the end of my career I will have done everything in my power to fight Tyson Fury,” said Joshua to the Dailymail.
‘We saw it with Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao (not fighting until they were beyond their primes), but that was a superstar fight. Me and Fury is streets,” said Joshua.
Joshua wants Fury fight in the UK
‘We’ll get it on in Britain. Don’t worry about age, don’t worry about the American dollar. This is a British UK fight. I look at it less as a mega-fight for the world,” Joshua said.
AJ is correct about his fight with Fury being a “British UK’ match, as it might not be as big elsewhere. If you’re talking about bringing in the most moolah, you to attract interest from different countries, which is what you’d get in a fight between Joshua and Wilder.
With Joshua vs. Fury, that’s mainly a UK fight because neither of those heavyweights is hugely popular outside of Great Britain.
‘So, with Fury, you know, let’s not use each other’s name to pull him down to lift me up. We don’t need to do that. Let’s just get it on.,” said Joshua.
Yeah, it’s too bad that Fury is always name-dropping Joshua’s name when he talks to the media.
Instead of Fury keeping his focus on his trilogy match with Deontay on October 9th, he’s been spending a great deal of time talking up a fight with Joshua, as if he’s already for the win in the bag against Wilder. It’s sad.