Speaking at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday, Joshua said he had not heard Fury’s latest claim that he was just a muscle-bound “carthorse” and claims that he was just a brawler, who is very limited in the boxing sense.
The unified champion voiced out by saying it is merely “what I deal with in my industry”.
The mega domestic heavyweight clash between the two Britons seems to be taking steps to reaching fruition this month with UKAD concluding their case with ‘The Gypsy King’.
On the topic of seeing Fury back in the ring, Joshua said: “I don’t know if he is back or what his situation is, but, as I always say, I stay consistent with what I’m doing and it’s up to him to get back on the gravy train.
Joshua did also say, that while Fury is currently struggling to whip himself into fighting shape, the callouts are currently irrelevant.
“So calling somebody out is irrelevant when you don’t know if you’re going to live up to your words.”
“I’m sure he will, but at this present time he’s saying he needs warm-up fights.”
“So tune in to what’s important and then focus on the bigger picture – that’s your strategy.”
Joshua, who beat Klitschko in arguably the fight of the year at Wembley in April, believes Fury would be better served by “working his way back” over the next two years, but, if the self-styled ‘Gypsy King’ is in a hurry, so be it.
While Joshua suggests it might be more prudent for Fury to slowly feel his way back into the ring upon his return.
Surrounded by so many unbelievable sports men and women, inspiring place to be tonight! 🙌🏾 #SPOTYpic.twitter.com/G57GPJ2BSz
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyjoshua) December 17, 2017
However, ‘AJ’ was quick to add that if Fury is intent on meeting him as soon as possible; he will be ready to ‘rock and roll’.
“If he wants to get straight in the ring with me in the summer, let’s rock and roll,” the London 2012 Olympic champion said.
“The ball is in his court but either way I’m ready to roll – I don’t mind what we do.”
In the meantime, Joshua has an appointment with a specialist to check that his nose has healed after Carlos Takam landed a thudding headbutt on his face on their October 28th battle.
“It didn’t break but it had all the symptoms,” explained Joshua, speaking at the BBC SPOTY awards where Joshua was tipped to come away with the top prize, but ended up coming away with the fourth spot.
Smile… Good character is powers 😃 pic.twitter.com/QXs9S9pJ0Z
— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyjoshua) December 6, 2017
“He definitely changed its position and I was bit bunged up for a little while after.”
“But I’m going to see a specialist next week just to make sure there’s no internal damage.
Obviously breathing is so important with boxing, that’s all. It’s all right,” The unified world heavyweight champion concluded.
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