Online Reporter
TYSON FURY has threatened to quit boxing for good and balloon up to 35 STONE unless he fights Anthony Joshua next.
Fury ended 16 months of retirement with a 12-round points victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham’s stadium.
And ringside at the 62,000-seat £1BILLION stadium was AJ — who recorded the bout and Fury’s corner team on his mobile. Fury, 37, called out Joshua, 36, afterwards and invited him into the ring for what would be their first ever official face-off.But instead, he was met with a death stare and the middle finger, with the Gypsy King adamant his career relies on the Battle of Britain.
He said: “Here’s the thing. If it ain’t Anthony Joshua next, I’m not interested in boxing. I’ll eat a 1,000 Easter eggs, go up to 35 stone, I’m out.
“I’m not interested. It’s either him or I’m gone again. I’m not interested at all. I’m not interested in up and comers.“I’m not interested in someone trying to prove a point over me. I don’t care. I don’t care about rankings. I don’t care about belts.
“I only care now about AJ that fight, that’s the defining fight for British boxing, you know, it’s either going to happen or it’s not.”
Despite saying he only wanted to fight Joshua, Fury contradicted himself later in his post-fight press conference by saying he was also open to a THIRD option — a trilogy fight with Oleksandr Usyk. On fighting the man who beat him twice, Fury said: “If AJ don’t want it, let’s get Usyk in the trilogy. BUT I need some f***ing fair play.”
Joshua beat YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on December 19 after six mismatched rounds in Miami. But ten days later, when visiting Nigeria with two close friends, he was involved in a fatal car crash which he miraculously survived.
Though tragically, childhood friend Kevin Latif Ayodele and recovery therapist Sina Ghami lost their lives. Joshua has been recovering from the injuries he sustained while continuing to grieve the loss of his fallen friends.
He has resumed training — with old rival turned team-mate Usyk in Valencia — with a summer comeback bout eyed.
And after refusing to face-off with Fury in the ring —AJ insisted he is still processing his return to the sport.He told Netflix: “We’ll see. I was just in a serious incident, maybe four months ago.
“So I really need to check out what’s going on in my return to the ring. But I’m here, I’m keeping my eye in the game.
“There’s real stuff happening in my life. It’s not like I’m ducking no one. I know what my job is, I know what I’m here to do.
“There’s just real stuff happening in my life that I’ve got to attend to. Once I’m 100 per cent, I’ll be ready.” Fury responded: “God knows I’ve had problems myself. I’ve attempted to kill myself before. So I’ve been through it. I’ve been up and down. I’ve been one step out of the mental institution. So we’ve all had problems and that’s life unfortunately and you know if you’re in this game you’re either a boxer or you’re not.
“The problem is with it all is taking in trim fights, heavyweight boxing, you can get chinned by anybody, do you understand?
“It’s not like oh well we’re two flyweights and I’m that much better than everybody else and it’s tip tap.
“Like I said, even a journeyman can knock a good man out because they’re heavyweights, they’ve got power and, if just say he did fight Wilder – and Wilder’s finished anyway – but just say Wilder detonated on him, does anyone want to see me and Wilder again?
“Because God knows I don’t! I’m not interested. Do you know what I mean? It is what it is. Let’s get the fight on or let’s not.”
‘I signed months ago’
Fury said he has signed a three-fight deal—which he hopes includes an overdue grudge match with Joshua. —Sun.
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