Long-time rivals and former heavyweight world champions Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury exchanged words in a heated facetime call. This exchange was facilitated by Turki Alalshikh who called Tyson Fury in AJ’s presence. And as expected Joshua and Fury weren’t exactly cordial.
Anthony Joshua and Fury’s Phone Call
Mr Alalshikh clearly did this to tease a potential Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury matchup. His Excellency made this clear by saying, “Champ, finish the job on 21 of December and look who’s waiting for you”. Indicating if Fury wins the Usyk rematch scheduled for December 21st Turki is looking to make Joshua vs Fury. However, this also relies on AJ defeating Daniel Dubois which although is pretty likely isn’t guaranteed. But, regardless if Joshua and Fury both lost the fight would still be very big.
Joshua led with saying, “I’m waiting for you!” clearly down to fight Fury. In fact Joshua tried to make the fight in 2020 following Fury’s rematch with Wilder when Fury was at his most dangerous finishing Wilder in 7 rounds. And the fight was all but signed however Wilder won his arbitration case to demand a trilogy with Fury and so the Joshua fight fell through. And since then Joshua had the Usyk losses and was rebuilding so was unable to pursue the Fury fight until recently.
Fury replied with, “I’ll get the f*cking job done” referring to the Usyk fight. A bold claim considering how the 1st Usyk fight went but again Fury is never short of confidence. Joshua insisted “either way, I’m waiting for you” suggesting he’s fine to fight Fury regardless if he loses again. This is great to hear as regardless if he loses to Usyk again Joshua vs Fury is always a massive fight. And if anything fighting a Fury coming off 2 losses could help Joshua’s chances. Eventually, the name calling happened Joshua calling Fury an “idiot”. And Fury called Joshua his favourite insult “dosser”.
A Clash of British Heavyweights
So it seems Joshua vs Fury is fairly close. For Turki Alalshikh the ideal situation is Fury beats Usyk in the rematch and Joshua beats Dubois so then they fight for undisputed. And that would make the fight as big as possible on top of it being a great fight it being for undisputed increases it tenfold. However, that is a very particular set of circumstances. Fury beating Usyk although possible isn’t an easy ask and a Usyk win is pretty likely given how the 1st fight went.
However, Joshua is clearly interested in the fight regardless if Fury wins or loses against Usyk. And by extension, Mr Alalshikh is probably fine to make the fight regardless if Fury loses to Usyk again. There’s no shame in losing to Usyk and doing so won’t really damage a fight between Joshua and Fury. However, Joshua beating Dubois is pretty integral as Joshua losing may destroy his confidence again. And if Joshua is coming off a win the Fury fight would be a world title fight.
The fight itself would be excellent with the clash of styles and attributes. Tyson Fury is one of AJ’s largest foes, the superior technician, better ring IQ, has a better chin, and better stamina. Anthony Joshua has the greater power, speed, combination ability, finishing ability and cleaner punches. Joshua also appears to have got his confidence back something he can’t afford to not have against Fury.
Hopefully, we will get to witness this great fight some point down the line after AJ vs Dubois and Usyk vs Fury 2. Regardless if Fury loses the fight is still very intriguing and is a must-have at some point.
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
