Anthony Joshua threw his two cents into the discussion on who really won the Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou fight last October, saying Ngannou was the true victor.
Despite getting dropped and out-punched throughout the contest, the judges gave Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) an unpopular ten round split decision over Ngannou.
The former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua felt that 35-year-old Fury resembled a “fat slob” on the night, and he’s not only one. Fury looked like he’d trained at a jelly bean factory, carrying too much adipose tissue around his flabby midsection.
Tyson now has a dad’s body rather than that of a professional athlete, and that could spell doom for him when he faces the 37-year-old Oleksandr Usy, who is pretty old, too, and lucky to have escaped his last fight against Daniel Dubois.
It seems reasonable to assume that Fury overlooked the threat the former UFC champion Ngannou posed to him, given that his UK fans had been blowing smoke up his exhaust pipe for three solid years since his first win over Deontay Wilder, and he may have started to believe all the glowing things they’d been saying about him.
The reality is that Fury has been a vulnerable fighter from day one and arguably should now have four losses on his resume when you’re po[ular like Fury, that goes a long way.
Fury will probably be a lot slimmer in his undisputed clash against IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The judges got it wrong
“I think Ngannou won. Bodybuilders up, dossers down. He just looked like a fat slob that can’t fight. He said bodybuilders can’t fight, but he got smacked up by one. Good luck to him, but he’s gotta stop running his mouth because it does come back and bite you,” said Anthony Joshua to Boxing On TNT.
Joshua could have said for more than he did, but he chose to take the high road and not really trash Fury, who is starting to show age at 35.
Obviously, the combination of inactivity, rich foods, and soft opposition has softened Fury up, giving him the appearance of a middle-aged man, older than his chronological age.
Tyson looks like he’s in his mid-40s or early 50s now, and he’s fighting like someone that old. One can argue the only reason Fury has avoided losses in recent years is that he’s chosen to avoid quality opposition, choosing to fight these guys:
- Francisco Ngannou
- Dereck Chisora – journeyman
- Dillian Whyte – Ditto
Fury looks like an old dad who should be sitting in a recliner chair, pipe in his mouth, flipping channels on the TV, with a cup of hot chocolate in his hand and a donut in his other. He doesn’t look like a professional athlete, and he can’t be saved anymore by his promoters with soft match-making by facing additional journeymen.
Joshua must be motivated for Wallin
“That’s what we need. AJ has got to feel that in this fight. We can’t go in flat, we can’t go in unmotivated,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social, reacting to Otto Wallin piping up, taking shots at Anthony Joshua ahead of their December 23rd headliner clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“He’s got a proper fight in front of him. As you say, Wallin is speaking up. I like it. Some would say, ‘Disrespectful,’ but not really. I just think look at the build-up with Haney-Prograis. Fighters have got to understand. I don’t want it to be fake and too cringe, but at the same time, ‘Talk your s***.'”
Joshua will need a lot of motivation to get pat the highly motivated 6’5 1/2″ Wallin because this guy is coming to change his life with a victory. Wallin knows that if he beats Joshua, he can get a lucrative rematch or face Deontay Wilder next in Saudi Arabia if he gets past Joseph Parker.
“That’s what we want. That’s what everybody wants in the build-up. We want to see passionate people canvassing their case to win, and Otto Wallin really believes he’s going to win. He really does, so AJ has got to be sharp, spiteful and take his head clean off. That’s got to be the game plan,” said Hearn.
Joshua will need to be at his best for this fight because the timid version of him that we saw in his last five fights might not be good enough to defeat Wallin.
Something happened to AJ after his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019, as he looked like a shadow of the fighter he had been since that encounter. Joshua has the appearance of a shell-shocked war veteran who can’t shake the images that have been burned into his brain from that loss.
If sitting in a darkened room for four days helped Joshua, it’s good for him, but it’s unlikely that will have changed anything. He needs some kind of shock therapy to snap him out of it.
