Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury Archives

BOXING

Tyson Fury responds to Ring Magazine heavyweight rankings after Anthony Joshua boost

By Richie March 17, 2024

Oleksandr Usyk has once again been named champion in Ring Magazine’s boxing rankings, something Tyson Fury isn’t too pleased about. Fury has topped their rankings twice in the past and confidently claimed that he surrendered his title just so he could climb back to win it for a third time.

Fury will become the undisputed heavyweight champion on May 18 if he can beat Usyk, and could become the holder of the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles.

Usyk initially took the belts off Anthony Joshua in 2021 and retained them a year later when facing the British heavyweight again in Saudi Arabia. Usyk’s ninth-round knockout win against Daniel Dubois in August was enough to retain the Ring heavyweight honours, but Fury is very confident about being the champion again after May 18.

“I’m the craziest mother***** out there,” Fury said on social media. “I gave up the Ring belt so I could win it three times.”

Usyk is top of the rankings as the heavyweight champion, with Fury in first (second) and Joshua in (third). The latter has climbed up the list thanks to his impressive recent form.

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn called Joshua the “best heavyweight in the world” after he knocked out Francis Ngannou in the second round earlier this month, making it his fourth win in a row after losing consecutive bouts against Usyk. Joshua has only lost three times in his career, the other instance being against Andy Ruiz Jr when the Mexican fighter produced a shock win via TKO.

His rise back to the top has been acknowledged by Ring, after beating Ngannou, Otto Wallin, Robert Helenius, and Jermaine Franklin since August 2022. Hearn wants Joshua to finally face Fury after years of negotiations, as he’s aware that AJ is in the form of his life.

Fury on the other hand was underwhelming in his last fight, when he faced Ngannou on his boxing debut. Fury was knocked down by the former UFC champion and controversially won via a split decision, but has no concerns ahead of facing Usyk.

“It’s going to be one of the fights for the ages,” Fury said at a press conference in London. “I believe we are both destined to be here and to be in this big fight in Saudi Arabia, and there’s only one winner, and I am destined to become the undisputed champion.

“More than that, I am destined to cement my legacy as the No. 1 fighter in this era. To do that I have to beat this little man and that’s it, simple as. Easier said than done I understand, he’s a tricky man, a good boxer, and slick.

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BOXING

Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury: The ‘Battle of Britain’ has been dangled like never before – but will it finally happen?

By Richie March 11, 2024

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury continue to talk up the prospect of an all-British heavyweight showdown for the ages, but will it finally happen? Fury will fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed world championship on May 18 followed by a rematch, with Joshua eyeing the winner

Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury. It’s like people think if they say their names in the same breath enough the two shall magically appear in the ring together. The carrot has been dangled to the point of no return. And yet boxing has a nasty habit of falsifying hope.

Fury’s presence had been felt all week in Saudi Arabia; there was no Joshua talk without, too, a sprinkling of Fury talk. The lineal heavyweight champion of the world, decked out in his extravagant suits and never too from away from boxing’s emerging string-puller Turki Alalshikh, loomed at the forefront of the build-up to his rival’s iron-fisted collision with Francis Ngannou as something of a nod to what might lie ahead.

A so-called ‘Battle of Britain’ had been thrust to the front of the shop window, for it would be suggested repeatedly that the winner of Joshua-Ngannou would earn a shot at the winner of Fury and Oleksandr Usyk’s tussle for the undisputed heavyweight championship. We will see.

The storyline was hammered home. Fury pleaded with Joshua to get the job done against Ngannou, while Joshua and Eddie Hearn pleaded with their counterpart to handle business with an Usyk that twice defeated AJ.

Fury would watch on as Joshua unleashed a cold-blooded assault to knock out former UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou inside two rounds. AJ had held up his side of the deal emphatically. Now we wait for May 18 and the subsequent rematch.

“Why not fight them both (Fury and Usyk)?” said Joshua. “It shouldn’t really be one or the other, I should have the opportunity to compete with them both, and also not just those two, there are so many other fighters I want to compete with, but since you are asking me about the winner, I think both are very credible fighters and I’d love the opportunity to face them at some stage.”

Joshua and Fury reportedly signed the contract to finally meet in 2021, only for the third fight in an epic trilogy against Deontay Wilder to scupper plans. The pair then verbally agreed to fight in the aftermath of Joshua’s rematch loss to Usyk n 2022, only for nothing to materialise at a moment when AJ was admittedly due a deserved rest and recovery. It feels a little different, this time. But boxing has fallen into that trap before.

As the wait for an undisputed champion gradually draws to a close, there is a sense the top of the heavyweight division is reaching boiling point. If the generational fights are to be made, it has to be here, it has to be now. Both Joshua and Fury know that.

Joshua can take some credit for re-elevating the intrigue to a long-coveted encounter with Fury, who for a long time had been considered an overwhelming favourite in light of not only his growing supremacy but also his fellow Brit’s struggles against the mastery of Usyk.

AJ has since relaunched himself under the tutelage of Ben Davison, remodelling the brutal spite of old and pairing it with every bit of nous, footwork, refined defence and ring IQ he has amassed during both the wins and losses of more recent years. The result has been a ruthless Joshua armed with a fortified self-assurance that has paved the way to ferocious finishes against Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin and now Ngannou. Standing before Ngannou was a Joshua who, in that mood, believes he can take out any man on the planet.

Suddenly, projections surrounding a Joshua-Fury clash are less conclusive, aided further by the latter’s shock knockdown when he met Ngannou on the MMA convert’s boxing debut back in October. Away from his own career, Ngannou’s interjection alone has cast a new, murky, fascinating cloud over a fight the public refuses to believe will not come to fruition.

Hearn referred to Joshua as the best heavyweight in the division during the immediate aftermath of his victory over Ngannou. Whether you believe it or not, it is a narrative they can now afford to push while riding the momentum of such a destructive knockout and with Joshua purring in full hunter mode.

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BOXING

Tyson Fury hits back at Eddie Hearn’s claims Anthony Joshua is best heavyweight in world and vows to make fight happen

By Richie March 11, 2024

TYSON FURY has hit back at Eddie Hearn’s claim that Anthony Joshua is the world’s best heavyweight – and vowed to make the fight happen.

Fury was ringside in Saudi Arabia to watch Joshua brutally knock out MMA superstar Francis Ngannou in two rounds.

It was in the same arena just five months earlier that he was floored by Ngannou and deemed fortunate to escape with a split-decision win.

So Hearn stated AJ’s stunning stoppage punched him to the top of the heavyweight division.

But Fury – who faces the man who twice beat Joshua in Oleksandr Usyk – was quick to shut down the promoter.

He said on BBC: “Congratulations to Joshua, but listen we all know styles make fights and Eddie Hearn’s shouting he’s the best heavyweight in the world, we know he’s not.

“He’s already been beaten by Usyk twice and I’ve got to deal with that problem for him.

“So after I’ve done that – twice – and if he’s still available, we’ll get it on. Get it on like Donkey Kong!”

Fury was due to unify all four belts – for the first time in heavyweight history – on February 17 until he suffered a cut in sparring two weeks out.

The freak injury has instead backdated the historic title bout to May 18 and the WBC champion insisted the gash is healed up.

Fury said: “Can’t see it because it’s gone, the cut’s gone. So it is what it is. I’m ready to roll and roll. I’ll see you on May 18th.”

Joshua’s promoter Hearn has thrown his support Fury’s way so that the Battle of Britain can finally commence.

He said: “You are looking at the baddest man on the planet. The No 1 heavyweight in the world.

“There’s a brilliant fighter down there in Tyson Fury. Please beat Oleksandr Usyk, because you will get the biggest fight of all time.”

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BOXING

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury sent same foul-mouthed threat by UFC legend

By Richie February 17, 2024

Nate Diaz has called out Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury six months after being defeated by Jake Paul in his boxing debut. The long-time UFC fighter swapped sports last summer but lost by unanimous decision after being knocked down in the fifth round.

Diaz, 38, now wants a ‘real fight’ against anyone, including the top two British heavyweights. The Californian is adamant that he would ‘f*** up’ both despite coming in considerably undersized compared to the pair.

He fought Paul at a 185lbs cruiserweight catchweight, standing at 6ft with a 76in reach. In these hypothetical fights, Diaz would give up six and nine inches in height to Joshua and Fury respectively, while weighing between 50 and 90 lbs less.

But the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu third-degree black belt is undeterred by a lack of size. With two decades of fight experience behind him, Diaz believes he is a match for anyone.

“I’ll f*** up Tyson Fury. I’ll f*** up Anthony Joshua,” he told the American streamer Sneako. “All these motherf*****s in a real fight, like, they don’t stand a chance.

“And then it’s like, we’ve got, everybody’s going on boxing [Floyd] Mayweather. We’re playing a little game,” Diaz remarked regarding the rumours dating back to 2022 of fighting his fellow American.

He continued: “I don’t like being labelled an ‘MMA fighter’. I’m a boxer. I’m a Jiu-Jitsu guy. I’m a kickboxer. I don’t like any of the one-dimensional things by itself anyway. I like it all.”

But almost 18 months after leaving the UFC, he remains a free agent but was open to fighting at UFC 300 in April. “I wanted to, but I don’t think so,” Diaz added.

“I think I wanna do boxing, fight another fighter. I could fight anybody in the world right now, but no one can fight me. Everybody’s locked down to organisations, locked down to the UFC, PFL.”

He has previously touted the prospect of fighting at the anniversary event on social media. “UFC 300 would be tight, but there’s nobody to fight,” he posted on X late last year.

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