Promoter Eddie Hearn is more convinced than ever that Tyson Fury will be no match for Anthony Joshua after Fury’s latest outing in the ring.
England’s Fury, the WBC titlist, scraped by boxing newbie Francis Ngannou, a former UFC champion, last Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a split decision after 10 rounds. Fury also had to overcome a near-disaster in the third round, when Ngannou floored him with a left hook.
What was regarded by many experts and pundits as a mismatch turned out to be a competitive affair—a shocking outcome considering the fight marked Ngannou’s professional boxing debut and Fury has long been regarded as the top heavyweight of this era.
Now Hearn, who promotes London’s Joshua, is confident that Fury has lost a step and posits, moreover, that Joshua would be able to stop Fury at this point if they met in the ring. A Joshua vs. Fury heavyweight match, long stymied by boxing politics, would arguably be the biggest fight in British boxing.
“I’m telling you, and I’m saying it with a big chest and all my heart and now all my brain, Anthony Joshua beats Tyson Fury everyday of the week,” Hearn told iFL TV. “He knocks him spark out. And you can go around and you can say, ‘He’s frozen out, he’s a dosser, I’m a dosser.’
“We saw Saturday night—we know the weaknesses. There (pointing to head) and there (pointing to chin), it ain’t what it used to be. Make the fight. AJ against Fury.”
Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) is now set to take on unified champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship. They will reportedly fight in February, also in Riyadh.
Hearn insisted that Fury is obligated to fight Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs) before he decides to retire.
“You better go and beat Usyk, because you do, you have to make the AJ fight,” Hearn said. “You cannot retire without fighting Anthony Joshua. But he’ll do the job for you because he’ll put you into retirement. I promise you that.”
By Sean Nam