Tyson Fury has advised Anthony Joshua to hang up the gloves if he can’t beat Andy Ruiz Jr in a rematch.
Joshua lost his IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles to sizeable underdog Andy Ruiz Jr by TKO7 after being knocked down four times in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York on June 1.
Fury, 30, made the comments ahead of his fight against Tom Schwarz at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada this Saturday night, adding that he will retire from the ring himself if he can’t defeat the unheralded German.
“[Joshua] has to get a couple of wins under his belt and convince the public that he’s a fighting man again. Got to school, learn what to do again. Get a bit of mental coaching, and that’s it. Try and make a comeback,” Fury told iFL TV when asked about Joshua as a future opponent.
“If he can’t make a comeback, if he can’t beat Andy Ruiz Jr, you ain’t going to do anything to Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder or any other decent heavyweight in the world either. If he can’t beat Ruiz in the rematch he’s done, finished, goodnight, bye-bye.
“If he can’t beat Ruiz in the rematch he needs to retire, simple as. Forget about it. Give it up. He’s done well out of it, he’s earned a few quid, he’s won a world title before and everything else that goes with it. So fair play to him.”
Fury says he will apply the same rule to himself if he fails to defeat Schwarz this weekend.
“If I can’t beat Tom Schwarz, then I’ll retire too, so that will make two bums retired, won’t it? Because there will be no point continuing, that’s the way I look at it,” Fury continued.
“If I lost to Andy Ruiz, I’d retire. And if I lose to Tom Schwarz I’ll retire too. I’ll have the rematch first and if I lose again, I’ll 100% retire.
“I won’t delude myself and say it’s a mental issue or whatever. I’ll retire, I’ll be a man and say, ‘Listen, fair play, Tom Schwarz is a beast. But I don’t see that happening because I don’t shit myself when I get into a boxing ring.”
