TYSON Fury has no doubts that he will floor his fellow Briton and fellow world heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua.
While Fury holds the World Boxing Council title, Nigerian-born Joshua is in possession of the World Boxing Association, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organisation belts.
The two have not been able to set up a unification bout, with their latest attempt scuppered by a court order that forced Fury to defend his title with a third fight against American Deontay Wilder.
In an earlier interview, Joshua had accused the Fury camp of chickening out of the potential £200m megafight and claimed he would ‘smoke’ Fury if they ever met.
Fury responded in an interview on Tuesday that Joshua ‘couldn’t smoke a cigarette, never mind smoke the Gypsy King’.
Fury sat down with Gary Neville as part of the former Manchester United defender’s Overlap interview series.
Neville, who spoke to Joshua four weeks ago, showed Fury a clip of his interview with Joshua in which he claims it was Fury that backed out of a heavyweight unification bout.
In the clip, Joshua says: “It’s not me, it’s the other side that are letting it down.
“We had the deal in place, we were the ones who found the venue, we were the ones who took the offer to them and they bailed out on not only me but also the boxing world. I’ll smoke that guy, I will.”
Fury said: “AJ couldn’t smoke a cigarette never mind the Gypsy King.
“He hasn’t got the minerals to fight a man like me. I said to Eddie Hearn that the difference between me and him is that he’s a businessman and I’m a f*g Spartan and I’ll show him that when I get in the ring.
“I will absolutely annihilate that bodybuilder. It won’t go past six rounds, it will be over quickly. He knows that and his full team know it and that’s why Eddie Hearn has been steering round me for the last 10 years.”
Fury went on to lambast Joshua’s promoter Hearn, who runs Matchroom Boxing, and claimed he previously had the chance to sign him to his catalogue of fighters but passed it up.
“Eddie Hearn, he is a proper southern w****r,” Fury added, sending Neville into a fit of laughter.
“I love to terrorise Eddie because he loves to talk s**t about people that he’s got nothing to do with.
“All Eddie Hearn’s ever done is talk rubbish about me because he knows it gets him hits and viewing figures in interviews. At the end of the day, what has he ever achieved in his life? He’s never been a boxer. He goes around like he’s world heavyweight champion but he ain’t. He’s just a businessman.”
Plans for a unification bout in Saudi Arabia collapsed and now both Fury and Joshua are in training camp for upcoming fights.
Fury is facing American foe Deontay Wilder in a trilogy contest on 9 October, while Joshua is taking on Oleksandr Usyk on September 25.
If both come through unscathed then the duo will again find themselves under pressure to finally meet in a unification bout.
According to Fury’s father John, the Gypsy King has earmarked December as the month for that spectacle to take place – such is his confidence in beating Wilder once again having controversially drawn the first fight before stopping him in the rematch.
“He’s trying to get Joshua in December,” Fury senior told GiveMeSport. “We’re going for that fight this year.
“Because we see Wilder as no threat at all once he’s done the camp right.
“If he’s done everything right to the letter, Wilder ain’t a problem, he’s got his number, beat him twice, beat him like a ragdoll, beat him to a pulp last time.
“Wilder has got nothing to offer him at all, only that big punch. And believe me, what I’m seeing in the new trainer, we know a lot about him as well, so we’ve got no fear at all.”
