One of the UK’s top trainers believes Anthony Joshua has got more chance of defeating Tyson Fury than Oleksandr Usyk, despite the fact that Joshua lost to the Ukrainian on two occasions.
Fury and Usyk have announced their undisputed title clash which will crown a first four-belt champion in the history of the division and a first sole title-holder since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
Meanwhile, Joshua has mounted a comeback to the heavyweight throne and will be eyeing up a showdown with the winner over the next eighteen months should he defeat Otto Wallin in December and either Deontay Wilder or Filip Hrgovic in 2024.
Adam Booth, who trained former world champions David Haye and George Groves, told the ‘Up Front’ podcast that Joshua has more chance in a bout with Fury that Usyk does.
“Can he [Joshua] win a heavyweight world title again? Absolutely.”
“He’s got to beat either [Oleksandr] Usyk or Tyson Fury. I don’t think that he beats Usyk and I don’t think that Usyk will hang around long enough to fade in his skill-set and give Joshua the opportunity [of beating a worse version of him].”
“Now you match Tyson Fury with ‘AJ’ and I think that ‘AJ’ has a better chance in that fight than Usyk does.”
“I would favour Tyson [versus Joshua] because of his freakish reach, it means that ‘AJ’ is going to get caught with the jab. When ‘AJ’ gets caught with the jab, he sort of takes a moment to try and [compose himself], he is not used to being outboxed with jabs.”
The fact that Tyson will reach ‘AJ’ in a way that ‘AJ’ is uncomfortable with, I favour Tyson, but any heavyweight that hits that hard has always got a chance of winning.
Fury-Usyk takes place on February 17, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in one of the heavyweight division’s most hotly-anticipated showdowns since the turn of the millennium.