BOXING
Joshua: “Fury needs me at the minute”
Former world champion Anthony Joshua said Tyson Fury needs to fight him after the negotiations with Oleksandr Usyk have failed.
Oleksandr Usyk, Deontay Wilder and now… Anthony Joshua. The British star is the third big name that has joined the race for a super fight against fellow countryman Tyson Fury.
Joshua, who will make his comeback fight against Jermain Franklin on Saturday at The O2, in London, feels he’s the right opponent to face The Gipsy King in an all-British affair.
The former two-time heavyweight champion said in the final presser that if he manages to defeat his opponent this weekend, he should be the chosen one to face Fury:
“There’s no better time. I feel like now, provided the Usyk [fight] doesn’t happen and he doesn’t fight anyone in between, Fury needs me at the minute.”
Talks for the heavyweight’s four-belt unification between Fury and Usyk collapsed after both sides weren’t able to agree on the purse and the rematch clause.
Hearn, to start working on the Joshua-Fury fight
Meanwhile, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has announced he will start working on a potential fight against the undefeated Fury.
“If this fight doesn’t get made, I want to sit down with George Warren and God-willing AJ gets through Jermaine Franklin on April 1, I want to go straight into that fight. AJ against Tyson Fury, why not?”, he said to DAZN.
It’s financially a much bigger fight for Tyson Fury than Oleksandr Usyk. It’s the biggest fight in world boxing by a mile. But if the Usyk fight does fall through then I think we should be kicking and screaming for the AJ fight”, he added.
If Joshua gets past Franklin on Saturday, it could make sense for the Brit to fight Fury, but if that clash can’t be made, Fury would likely face Joy Joyce, who already has a fight scheduled against China’s Zhilei Zhang in April.
As for Usyk, The Cat will likely step into the ring to fight WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois while no other big fights are on his horizon.