LONDON – Following Tyson Fury’s lopsided points victory against Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last night, he has made it clear that his focus is on long-term British rival Anthony Joshua or he will retire again.
Fury (35-2-1, 24 KOs) had called Joshua to step inside the ring with him shortly after his hand was raised. However, what was said couldn’t be heard by the fans or the media in the stadium.
“Tonight he came here for the job, and I asked him to do the fight, and he should have got in there and did it, but he didn’t give an answer,” Fury told Boxing Social and other reporters. “In my opinion he didn’t want no smoke. He didn’t want it. He didn’t even look like he wanted it! He was just shell shocked and didn’t know what to say. He came ringside to make a fight. Yeah…if it was me, I would have jumped straight in that ring and faced off. Let’s get it on!”
Fury and Joshua were scheduled to collide in an undisputed title fight in 2021. However, due to a legal responsibility, Fury was forced to pull out and fight Deontay Wilder in a trilogy. Joshua would move onto a fight with Oleksandr Usyk, losing consecutively against the Ukrainian.
Fury continued: “Ten years in the making, and still, after all this time, there is still uncertainty if this fight will happen next. Do I want it? Yes! But is it going to happen, I got no idea. I hope so. You can’t force someone to do something. That’s a fact.”
The heavyweight division has experienced some movement during Fury’s sabbatical. There is a new WBO world champion in Fabio Wardley, while Usyk’s IBF, WBA and WBC are in jeopardy as mandatories pile up.
“If it ain’t Anthony Joshua next, I’m not interested in boxing,” Fury explained. “I’ll eat a thousand easter eggs, go up to 35 stone, I’m out, I’m not interested. It is either him or I am gone again. I’m not interested at all! I’m not interested in up and comers. I’m not interested in someone trying to prove a point over me. I don’t care. I don’t care about rankings, I don’t care about belts. I only care now about AJ. That fight is the defining fight for British Boxing. It’s either going to happen or it’s not.”