Tyson Fury is proud of Anthony Joshua but will “100 per cent” fight him and prove his win over Wladimir Klitschko was the greater victory.
The 31-year-old Gypsy King still feels his 2015 points masterclass over the 11-year-champion, on the road in Germany, is rated below AJ’s dramatic stoppage win two years later by fight fans
And, despite saying he is proud of his fellow Brit for all he has achieved, the 6ft 9in boxer sounds eager to set the record straight over who is UK’s real heavyweight king.
Fury said: “Excuse makers started as soon as I had beaten Wladimir Klitschko. Straight away they said he had a bad right hand but he admitted he was fine. He said if you cannot get in range to land the jab, you cannot do anything. That was my Mount Everest, my greatest night, I beat the 11-year champion but it was instantly overlooked.
“Just because I had beaten Klitschko, he was suddenly washed up and the 26 challengers before me could suddenly not lace his boots up. But two years later (before AJ beat him in front of 90,000 fans at Wembley) he was the king again.”
Fury revealed before his bloody September win over Otto Wallin that he occasionally prank calls 31-year-old Joshua and promises to KO him when they finally meet. But, far from trying to intimidate the Watford man, who is trying to claw back his titles after his shock June loss to Andy Ruiz Jr, Fury is gushing with praise.
He said: “The fight with AJ will happen, 100 per cent, it has to. I have three more fights on my current contract. If Deontay Wilder wants another rematch he can get it, AJ can have one and so can Ruiz. Ruiz was not a shock win for me, I was probably one of the few people in the world who picked him to win, people underestimated him because of how he looked.
“Anthony can only do his best for the rematch, you cannot please everyone, I am sure he will try hard. Before the first fight, he did not look right or wanted to be there but he tried his best and that is all you can do, the only shame is not doing it. He has changed his life and reached for the stars, I am very proud of him as a person and a sportsperson.”
Just like Ruiz before the historic win over AJ, Fury was underestimated by his nearest and dearest before the draw with Wilder.
He said: “The people who always believed in me even doubted me, even my family. I am not sure my trainer thought I would win. My dad did not speak to me for five weeks because he thought I would get knocked out and put in a wheelchair.” Fury has made an incredible comeback after a battle against depression and drugs left him contemplating suicide.
The 31-year-old said: “I had a couple of breakdowns. The first was in 2012 when I first started thinking about suicide, I was a British and Commonwealth champion but I was thinking about smashing my car into a tree. I was supposed to be this big hard fighter but I felt like a child.”
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