Former two-time world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is not giving up on the long-anticipated all-British battle with Tyson Fury, despite Fury’s retirement from boxing.
Fury, 36, announced he was hanging up his gloves for the fifth time in January, just weeks after suffering his second consecutive defeat to Oleksandr Usyk. However, Joshua isn’t convinced that “The Gypsy King” is finished with the sport for good, and he remains hopeful their long-delayed clash will finally happen.
Posting a photo of himself watching a Fury bout on his private Snapchat, Joshua wrote:
“One of these days, I’ll be standing in the opposite corner. Ready and fully charged spiritually.”
The two heavyweight titans have been on a collision course for over a decade, but have never met in the ring. A blockbuster two-fight deal was agreed in 2020, with bouts planned for 2021.
However, those plans were derailed after former WBC champion Deontay Wilder won an arbitration case that forced Fury into a trilogy bout with him instead.
If Joshua and Fury ever step into the ring, it would finally resolve the long-standing debate over who is the better British heavyweight of this era.
Fury, though, has appeared to close the chapter on his career, expressing little motivation to return.
“I hear a lot of talk about the Gypsy King returning to boxing, and I ask this question: for what?” Fury said.
“More belts? I’ve won 22 of them. I’ve been rumped, that’s it. Fair play to them; they got their use out of me. But I’m happy; I am content with what I have achieved and accomplished. I’ve been around the world and back again.”
