Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have not often seen eye to eye but seem to agree on who will win the upcoming IBF heavyweight world title fight.

Fury retired in January after a second straight loss to Oleksandr Usyk left him without any belts. The Ukrainian also handed the same fate to Joshua when the pair fought in back-to-back contests in 2021 and 2022.

As such, many fans hoped the two British rivals would come together for a final legacy-defining contest, but with Fury now having walked away from the sport, that is off the table.

Instead, the next big fight on the horizon is an IBF title defence for the in-form Daniel Dubois against the equally in-form Joseph Parker on February 22.

Between them, these two have beaten Joshua, Zhilei Zhang, Deontay Wilder, Fillip Hrgvic and Jarrell Miller in their last few contests.

When he was with Turki Alalshikh recently, Joshua was asked by the Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority who he was backing on the contest and he went with his former victim Parker to come out on top and establish himself as a two-time world heavyweight champion.

Meanwhile, when speaking to TNT Sports, ‘The Gypsy King’ was asked the same questions and answered the same way.

“I’ve got to go with my old pal, Joseph Parker.”

Fury and Parker have been in camp many times together, and he and ‘AJ’ are not the only ones backing the New Zealander to come to on top with former British title challenger David Adeleye also leaning towards him.

For the winner, a potential undisputed bout with Usyk awaits.

• Ronaldo still number one

Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are among six boxers to make the 2024 Sportico rich list, reports talksport.com. Over the last 12 months from February 12, 2024, to February 12, 2025, Sportico tracked the income of the world’s biggest sports stars to compile their annual list.

Al Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo came out on top with a whopping $260m while Golden State Warriors points guard Steph Curry cashed $153.8m in 2024. Following closely behind in third place was former unified heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, who earned a monumental $147m from his two fights with Oleksandr Usyk plus endorsements.

Lionel Messi, Lebron James, and Neymar made up places four to six just ahead of Usyk at number seven. Fury earned a lion’s share of the purse, but the Ukrainian slickster still took home $122m of the pay pot plus endorsements. He is expected to shoot up the list in 2025 after signing a money-spinning four-fight deal with Riyadh Season that includes a September showdown with Terence Crawford.

Joshua was the fourth-highest-earning boxer in 2024 and 30th overall in sports with $60m. The Watford powerhouse kicked off his year with a bang by knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou inside two rounds in March before ending up on the receiving end of an equally brutal stoppage at the hands of Daniel Dubois in September.

Twenty two spaces below AJ, Jake Paul came in as the fifth-highest-earning boxer in 2024 after his record-breaking Netflix clash with Mike Tyson in November.

The fight, which was staged at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, generated more than $17.8 million at the gate to become boxing’s biggest box-office success in the United States outside of Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, an estimated 108 million people tuned in to watch the crossover contest. Paul pocketed $38m for the fight. An extra $10m in endorsements brings him up to $48m overall.

The sixth boxer to make the Sportico Top 100 was Japanese sensation, Naoya Inoue at No.81. He, like Canelo, is expected to have an even bigger 2025 after signing a multi-fight deal with Riyadh Season.

Year 2024 was a fruitful year for the undisputed super bantamweight champion, who defeated Luis Nery, and TJ Doheny last year before taking out Kim Ye-joon at the start of 2025.

In total, he took home $42m – his most lucrative annum to date.

Carl Froch reckons Tyson Fury would be interested in a £100million fight against British rival Anthony Joshua.

Fury announced his retirement from boxing in January just weeks after losing to Oleksandr Usyk for a second time. The 36-year-old previously declared his retirement before offering up a U-turn. However, this latest announcement follows Usyk’s victory over the ex-unified heavyweight champion in their highly anticipated rematch in December.

The Manchester-born fighter was defeated by unanimous decision months after failing to secure victory in their match for the undisputed championship of the heavyweight division in May. Fury’s announcement seemed to extinguish any possibility of a bout with Joshua, which could have – arguably – been the most significant event in British boxing history.

But former super-middleweight champion and current boxing pundit Froch says ‘The Gypsy King’ might not stay retired for long if a potential big-money fight against Joshua comes about.

“I’m not sure [if he will stay retired] because he’s quite stubborn and when he digs his heels in, and similar to me, he’ll double down on it,” he said via Action Network.

Froch went on: “It’s like a lot of boxers. He has retired because deep down he knows he is probably past his best and lost two fights (to Oleksandr Usyk) and I know personally he is p*****. I spoke to somebody close to his team and he’s really frustrated and p***** off that he lost the rematch, but he did lose and lost fair and square.

“It was a close fight, but wasn’t very entertaining, not like the first one where there were moments of excitement, and not a lot happened. I think Usyk did enough to win.

“He shouldn’t have any complaints apart from the frustration that he didn’t go for it.

“I just think Tyson Fury had a bit more left in the tank and could’ve tried a little harder. He’s the bigger man and is heavier. Maybe Fury is feeling a little let down by himself, and it might bring him out of retirement one last time and the fight with Anthony Joshua is a big fight as much as I think that’s not as big of a fight as it could have been, and isn’t as exciting without a title.

“Anthony Joshua has been done a few times now and he’s past his best. Tyson Fury is 36, he’s overweight and he struggles to get fit, so there’s nothing at stake apart from a bragging rights fight. It’s too late now. I’m not excited, but I appreciate it’s a big fight for Britain and if he gets offered £100million then he will take the fight.”

Tyson Fury may have announced his retirement, but there is still plenty of hope he will fight Anthony Joshua.

‘The Gypsy King’ revealed he was walking away from the sport in a brief social media post at the start of January. It came just weeks after his second consecutive loss to Oleksandr Usyk.

The first of those in May was for all four belts and undisputed honours. Fury lost narrowly on points. The second was for three of the four belts and saw the Ukrainian take the win again, handing Fury his second professional loss.

For many years, the former world champion was long linked with a fight with fellow Brit Joshua and it seemed the time was now right given that Joshua also lost his last fight against Dubois in September, leaving both men with seemingly nowhere better to go than this legacy-defining contest.

Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, promoter Eddie Hearn outlined what must happen if the fight is to go ahead next given that Joshua – who has also lost twice to Usyk – is keen to fight on.