Former world champion George Groves has claimed that a blockbuster bout between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua is either already signed or close to being finalised, saying both fighters are likely to meet next without interim bouts, The PUNCH reports.
Groves said he believes Fury’s temporary retreat from the spotlight is simply part of the build-up before an official announcement.
“I don’t think you need to convince him,” Groves said in an exclusive interview with CasinoBeats when asked what it would take to bring Fury out of his brief retirement.
“I think it’s done. He’s fighting Joshua. He’s just switched off from boxing for a bit. I’m almost certain that the fight is either signed, sealed, delivered and just not announced, or well on its way to being done.”
The former WBA super-middleweight champion added that both heavyweights are past the stage of needing warm-up fights and are ready to face each other despite their recent form.
“Joshua wouldn’t have a warm-up fight. Those ships have sailed. They’ll just fight each other,” Groves said.
“They’re both coming off losses, so neither of them is in particularly good form. Fury’s probably been in worse form than Joshua. Joshua got beat by Dubois. Up till then, he was doing okay.
“Knocked out a cage fighter. Fury had life and death with a cage fighter. So yeah, it’s two heavyweights, former world champions, they want to roll around, have a little fight.”
Groves even suggested tongue-in-cheek that the long-awaited fight could happen in a cage, referencing the pair’s recent respective match-ups with MMA crossovers.
Reflecting on Joshua’s place in British heavyweight history, Groves offered a strong comparison with another former world champion, David Haye. While many fans have fantasised about a Joshua-Haye dream match-up, Groves was clear on where he stands.
“Haye was a lot better fighter than Anthony Joshua,” Groves said bluntly.
“He was so fast, so powerful. If he hit you, he could get rid of you. And I’ve seen him spar the likes of Deontay Wilder, Carlos Takam and other quality heavyweights in his prime. He handled almost all of them.”
The 37-year-old, who trained with Haye during his career, recalled just how difficult it was to even land a jab on the former cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion.
“I had a lightning-fast jab, really good reactions, but I couldn’t land a glove on him. He could jab and feel like he shoved my teeth out of my head. It was the most frustrating thing ever. Heavyweights shouldn’t be able to do that,” Groves recounted.
He described a hypothetical fight between Haye and Joshua as a shootout but maintained that Haye’s technical gifts and speed gave him the edge, even if both had the power to end it with one shot.
“Haye was a gifted amateur. He won silver at the World Championships. Maybe I’ve seen more of Haye than Joshua so I’ve got a bit of bias, but I think it would have been a 50–50 fight. A great one.”
Groves, who retired in 2018, and remains one of the most respected voices in British boxing also weighed in on recent rumours surrounding Dillian Whyte and Moses Itauma, after Derek Chisora reportedly turned down a £2m offer to face the 29-year-old heavyweight prospect.
“Whyte’s in it for the paydays,” Groves said.
“He doesn’t have the credibility or the profile of Chisora. His options aren’t the same.”
Asked about Whyte’s interest in reigniting a fight with Anthony Joshua, Groves referenced their scrapped bout last year and Joshua’s well-known stance on drug offences in the sport.
“They were scheduled to fight again, weren’t they? Then Whyte tested positive for drugs. And Joshua isn’t a fan of that,” he said. “When Big Baby Miller did that to him, Ruiz stepped in and he came unstuck. Joshua doesn’t like last-minute replacements and he definitely doesn’t like drugs in the sport.”
