By William Lloyd: Anthony Joshua surprised many people on Thursday in predicting Deontay Wilder will knock out Tyson Fury in their fight next month on October 9th.
Joshua says he thinks that Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) is entirely focused and out to avenge his loss a year ago.
Some fans believe that Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) intentionally made his prediction public on the Fury-Wilder 3 trilogy so that he could anger Fury, as he wants to mess with him mentally,
Joshua is annoyed with Fury for wasting his time earlier this year when there was a possibility of the two meeting for a mega-clash in Saudi Arabia last August.
Fury had an arbitration case going with Wilder, and he should have made it clear that he might lose and be stuck with that fight.
Instead, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn put in a great deal of hard work hammering out a deal for AJ to face Fury in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, all that fell apart when the U.S arbitrator ruled in Wilder’s favor.
Joshua trying to get under Fury’s skin
“No, he’s getting underneath the skin of Tyson Fury,” said Davies on why Joshua is saying that Deontay Wilder will knock out Tyson Fury.
“There’s a lot of people that feel that Tyson Fury has waited a lot of time, and it’s given Deontay Wilder more time to prepare.
“Fury has been coming back and forth to the U.S and the UK. He’s had another child. He’s had a much more disrupted schedule than Deontay Wilder has, but what he does have is 21 months ago domination of Deontay Wilder in a Las Vegas ring in a dark night for the Bronze Bomber.
“So, psychologically, he has the upper hand. Why does Anthony Joshua say that? I’ve heard comments that he wants Tyson Fury to win.
“He can prove himself. It’s an all British showdown; it’s a fight that Joshua wanted.
“You get comments over here and comments over there. Why did he say it? Because someone asked him the question. I think he would prefer Tyson Fury to win so he can have that fight,” said Davies on Joshua wanting Tyson to beat Deontay.
Joshua’s comments about the Fury-Wilder fight might motivate Fury to fight harder so that he can prove AJ wrong. That might be the reason behind Joshua predicting a knockout win for Wilder.
Joshua prefers to face Fury rather than Wilder because it’s a bigger fight for the UK boxing fans than if Deontay meets him.
But then again, Joshua may believe that Wilder can win this fight due to the extra time he’s been given to train for the contest. Fury’s decision to delay the rematch with Wilder until October could hurt him.
Joshua vs. Usyk final press conference = BORING
“Boring, neither man giving anything away,” said Davies on the final press conference between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk on Thursday.
“It’s about time they allow journalists to ask questions at press conferences. I put it to Eddie Hearn afterward.
“It is time they make it more interesting. It’s called a ‘press conference.’ I think you get more spice.
“These two guys clearly have a lot of respect for one another; they don’t want to give a lot away during fight week.
“But given the opportunity. Anybody that watched that press conference today thought, ‘That’s a bit dull.’
“I can’t wait for the fight; that’s an interesting contest, but let’s have a little spice in the build-up.
“Yes, do the handshakes and all that. But let’s ask questions where they have to say things about the other opponent.
“I put it to Eddie Hearn today, and he said, ‘Yeah, I don’t disagree with you. I thought it was a bit bland today. That was a very, very bland press conference.’
“There was no energy between them,” said Davies about the lack of energy between AJ and Usyk.
Davies is right about the Joshua vs. Usyk press conference being a dull one, but that’s not surprising. Joshua is not an exciting guy outside of the ring, and Usyk is the same. As a result, bringing them together for a press conference was poison.
