Home Boxing News Tony Bellew believes Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua could be next, likens...

Tony Bellew believes Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua could be next, likens AJ to Lennox Lewis

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Photo credit: Getty Images

Former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua 26-3 (23) could forgo a mooted bout against former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder 43-2-1 (41) in favour of an even bigger fight.

According to retired boxer turned pundit Tony Bellew, the 33-year-old Brit could turn his back on a mooted January fight against American power puncher Wilder, 37, in favour of a long overdue bout between reigning WBC champion Tyson Fury 33-0-1 (24).

“I am hearing rumours that [talks between AJ and Wilder’s camps] have stopped at the minute and [AJ’s camp] are looking more towards Fury vs AJ again instead of AJ and Wilder,” Bellew told Bitcoin Casinos.

“The talk is of another fight going to Africa, which would be absolutely incredible.

“Rumble in the Jungle all over again in Zaire or something along those lines.”

Repeated attempts to make the Fury-Joshua bout have fallen apart for various reasons over the years so it is easy to remain sceptical that it will ever happen.

But there seems to be minimal hurdles to making the fight this time around, apart from the obvious: money.

The timing would seem right with both boxers closing in on the final stages of their professional careers and both having a clear dance card for next year.

Fury is set to face boxing debutant and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a 10-round non-title contest in Saudi Arabia on October 28.

Joshua is fresh off a seventh-round knockout victory over late replacement Robert Helenius in London last month.

Bellew is one commentator that remains confident of Joshua’s abilities despite back-to-back points losses to Ukrainian southpaw Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) in 2021 and 2022.

The former WBC cruiserweight champion said: “If you can break someone down systematically and punish them and brutalise them and then finish them off when they’re absolutely at the edge then I’d do that every time.

“Lennox Lewis was the master of that. If you want to compare him to Lennox, which Joshua absolutely will hate by the way, but when Lennox was first on the scene he was a wrecking machine. He was flying through fighters.

“The setback came with the Oliver McCall fight and then he went to Emmanuel Stewart and he changed his style and started to break fighters down by using his jab to such great effect. He was the greatest coach ever in my opinion but this used to send him insane.

“It used to infuriate him. When Lennox was in training camp he used to play chess all the time and Emmanuel Steward hated that. But a boxing match is chess. You’ve got to be three, four or five moves ahead.”

Fight fans won’t be holding their breath for Fury vs Joshua, but it doesn’t hurt to dream, does it?