ANTHONY JOSHUA FURIOUSLY EAGER TO FACE TYSON FURY

Although Anthony Joshua has an outstanding mandatory IBF fight with Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev. Daily Mail reports him as being eager to fight Tyson Fury and win his belts, fuelling talk of a mega all-British unification bout. 

Joshua, who avenged his only defeat of his career against Andy Ruiz Jr with an unanimous points victory in December, is next scheduled to face Kubrat Pulev in a fight delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

Fury, meanwhile, will face Deontay Wilder in a third bout after knocking the Bronze Bomber out in February – but with the boxing world desperate to see an undisputed world heavyweight champion, AJ told The Sun that Fury is on his ‘hit list’.

‘Undoubtedly the fight I want is Tyson Fury — he is holding something that I want,’ Joshua said.

‘He says things about me all the time, there is so much back and forth, but Tyson Fury is only relevant the day me and him sign a contract to fight. 

‘The day he and I are going to fight is the only time really that I should be talking about Tyson Fury and I don’t really want to be in that position where I am talking him down.’

Fury’s comeback from mental health problems has been well documented and Joshua praised The Gypsy King, who has never lost a professional fight, for raising awareness in that department. 

But the 30-year-old boxer insists that all his focus will only shift to Fury when a fight is agreed between the two world title holders. 

‘He is a great person and he has done great things in boxing, but until the day we fight that is where it ends and I don’t have anything else to say about him,’ Joshua insisted. 

‘I really want the belt he holds and that is where I stand.’