Tony Bellew picks Joshua to beat Fury on power

Tony Bellew is backing Anthony Joshua to beat Tyson Fury, pointing to power as the deciding factor in a fight that still has no confirmed date.

“It has to [happen]. It would be a travesty if it didn’t,” Bellew told Sky Sports News, referring to a long-discussed meeting between the two heavyweights.

Bellew described the fight as close but gave Joshua the edge.

“You’ll have to edge towards Anthony Joshua because he’s the one with the destructive power of the two,” he said. “This could come down to who lands first.”

He also said both fighters are no longer at their peak. That part is obvious. Joshua and Fury are both in their mid-30s and haven’t looked elite-level for the last six to seven years. As the saying goes, ‘Power is the last thing to go’ for a fighter. Joshua, 36, is an example of that. He can still punch as hard as ever, which gives him a big edge against the weaker, slower Fury.

“I’m not going to lie, at this stage, they’re both past their best, in my opinion. But it’s still relevant,” Bellew said, pointing to previous late-career fights between leading names.

Tyson, 37, is coming off two defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, both competitive fights at world level, and is expected to return next month. He has indicated he is open to facing Joshua after that bout.

Joshua was knocked out by Daniel Dubois in 2024 and later returned with a stoppage win over Jake Paul. That fight went six rounds before the finish.

Joshua is preparing for a return later this year and has been working with Usyk in camp.

“He’s preparing diligently again, under the tutelage now of Oleksandr Usyk,” Bellew said. “That looks good.”

Bellew also called the matchup a “genuine 50-50” and questioned how much both fighters have left at this stage of their careers. He still leans toward Joshua because of his power. That might be a stretch to call this a “50-50” fight, because Fury has looked poor in his last three fights in a way that Joshua would take advantage of.

The most worrying sign is Fury’s diminished punch resistance since his trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder in 2021. We saw how Fury was badly hurt in his first fight with Oleksandr Usyk. If he’s struggling with Usyk’s power, one can only imagine what Joshua will do to him if and when they eventually fight.