Anthony Joshua won’t see action in the ring this year, but he has assured his fans that he will be back, some time next year. And, in a social media post AJ put out yesterday, the former two-time heavyweight champ pretty much called out Tyson Fury. Now, as fans know, this it-should-have-happened-years-ago all-British super-fight, is way past its sell-by date, yet Eddie Hearn and others have refused to give up on it.
Now, AJ, in a pretty uncharacteristic call-out, has laid into Fury.
“To my supporters, I’ll be back to lace up my boots and put on my gloves sooner rather than later, hopefully punching Fury’s head in and dancing round his flicker jab with ease,” Joshua wrote.
Is Joshua Desperate, or Just Playing the Payday Game?
Joshua – who went on to praise “real general” Joseph Parker, this as he had another go at Fury, referring to him as Parker’s “dippy mate” – has not fought since last September, when he was quite brutally chopped down by Daniel Dubois at Wembley. Now, with his career in as bad a need of a win as it has ever been, is Joshua coming across as desperate for the Fury fight? Is this the only massive fight Joshua believes he can win at this advanced stage of his career? Or is the massive payday that would come with a Fury fight driving Joshua to insult his fellow Brit, perhaps in the hopes of getting Fury to bite and agree to fight him?
Who knows. You might even say, who cares? Fury seems to have meant it this time as far as being retired, but then again, who can ever be sure with Fury? While Joshua hasn’t fought in so long, it’s impossible to know how much he has left at anything like elite level.
Let’s see if Fury responds to Joshua’s post, and if this fight – you could dub it Better Late Than Never? – will still happen.