Rumours of one of the biggest fights in British history look to be confirmed in the coming days, with an announcement for Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua seemingly imminent. Former cruiserweight world champion, Tony Bellew, believes Fury may be pursuing ‘AJ’ because he might struggle with the challenge of Oleksandr Usyk.
“I don’t want to say he doesn’t fancy it against Oleksandr Usyk but let’s be honest, it’s not an easy proposition is it,”
He’s had two opportunities now to face Oleksandr Usyk and he’s knocked them both back. That’s not my opinion, that’s a fact. For someone who is a so-called middleweight, I don’t see what the problem is.
’You’re a middleweight, you’re a middleweight.’ That’s all I hear! Why not just beat the middleweight up? I would if I were you.”
Tyson Fury has announced publicly that he believes Usyk to be an easy match-up, due to his inferior size having stepped up from the cruiserweight division in 2019, poking fun at the unified champion and insisting that he is a ‘middleweight’.
But Bellew knows the elite abilities of the Ukrainian all too well, losing in the eighth round of their fight back in 2018 by a highlight-reel knockout. He feels Fury is more fearful than he would have fans believe.
The proud Evertonian told talkSPORT Breakfast:
“There’s just so many things to take into account and for a guy like Fury, he’s like, ‘I want to fight a guy who I know exactly what he will do.’
For some reason unbeknownst to me this ‘middleweight’ he doesn’t want to face on three months’ notice.
I don’t get it! What I do understand is, ‘I’ll tell you what, I’ll fight AJ because I can earn double against AJ than what I’ll earn against Usyk.’”
For now, talks of a fight between Fury and Usyk will have to wait, with Usyk requiring time to recover from his win against Anthony Joshua last month.
Instead, it is the two Brits who look set to clash before the end of the year, with a date of December 3 reportedly being accepted by both fighters.