Tyson Fury gave a bizarre tribute to Brit rival Anthony Joshua during his battering of Deontay Wilder – by wearing a “Nigeria” gum shield.
The Gypsy King secured a scintillating stoppage victory in his Las Vegas rematch to win the WBC heavyweight title. It has already led to demands from boxing fans for Fury and Joshua to clash in an undisputed title fight.
AJ is the reigning WBO, WBA, and IBF champ. And during Fury’s dominant victory, he showed he perhaps already has Joshua on the mind. The Lineal king had a green and white Nigeria gum shield in his mouth. Joshua’s mother Yeta is Nigerian, while his father Robert has Nigerian and Irish Ancestry.
His paternal great-grandfather is considered one of the greatest men of the town of Sagamu. The boxer himself has a tattoo of Nigeria on his shoulder.
Joshua has said of his heritage: “I learnt more about my family’s history and I ended up getting an Africa tattoo. It was a nice combination to have ‘Wisdom’ and your heritage tattooed underneath, so it went well.”
A pic of Fury wearing the gum shield did the rounds on social media – leaving many perplexed.
Some thought it was “a shout out to AJ” while other suggested Fury was “already starting the mind games”. A popular opinion was that the 31-year-old Gypsy King was already “calling out Joshua”, despite facing a man in Las Vegas usually renowned for blasting opponents out.
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