WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) has labelled rival Anthony Joshua 24-1 (22) a bully and says he will obliterate him if their long awaited grudge match ever happens.
The 33-year-old Brit was expected to face the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion in the northern summer before an independent arbitrtator ruled he was contractually obliged to face for WBC titleholder Deontay Wilder 42-1-1 (41) for a third time.
That bout will now take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 9. Joshua will face WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk 18-0 (13) at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in Tottenham, England on September 25.
“I have definitely encountered the real Anthony Joshua,” Fury said to The Lowdown. “Not a nice person, sort of a bully. Someone who thought he was going to put the bluff on me. That’s what type of person he is.
“I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out.
“He phoned me up one day in a mood and said he was going to do this and that to me.
“It didn’t fare too well for him, let’s just say that.
“Just out of the blue. He decided to give me a call, a telling off call.
“I don’t think he liked what he heard on the end of it.
“There’s be no telling me off anyway.
“I just told him the truth and the truth always hurts.
“Nothing will ever cut you deeper than the truth and the truth will always set you free.
“Sometimes people will hide behind the truth and behind the smoke and mirrors. They love it that way.”
Fury battled to a disputed draw against Wilder in their first fight in Los Angeles in December 2018. In that bout Fury boxed well early but the hard-hitting 35-year-old American came on late, dropping Fury in the ninth and again in the 12th and final round.
It was enough to salvage the fight. Judge Robert Tapper had it 114-112 Fury, judge Alejandro Rochin saw it 115-111 Wilder, while judge Phil Edwards had it 113-113 for a split draw.
In their rematch in Las Vegas in February last year Fury blew Wilder away, dropping him twice before stopping him in the seventh when the towel came in from the corner. It was a stunningly one-sided fight.
The 31-year-old Joshua – whose lone loss came to Andy Ruiz Jr by seventh round knockout in New York two years ago, a result he reverse in their immediate rematch – will be an even easier opponent for Fury than Wilder, according to the Gypsy King.
“When I come across him in a boxing ring, I’ll obliterate him and it’ll be an easy fight,” Fury said.
“A lot easier than Deontay Wilder and that was pretty easy. That was one of the easiest fights I’ve had, but AJ will be easier than that.”
