Ahead of Tyson Fury’s October 9 defence of his World Boxing Council (WBC) title against American heavyweight Deontay Wilder, the Brit heavyweight boxer has offered his two cents to Anthony Joshua for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury counselled his fellow Brit to “swing away” and adjust his game plan if he is to have a chance of regaining the titles he lost.
“There are no secrets, no rocket science, to boxing. Fighters today make it technical. This is just two men punching each other for 12 rounds or less,” Fury said.
“Go to bed early, eat right, drink plenty of water, and get stuck in! If it’s not going your way with the game-plan that you’ve got? Change it up! Give your best, give all that you can, leave it all in the ring. Don’t say ‘should have’, ‘would have’, ‘could have’.
“Don’t think: ‘If I trained harder, I could have done better’. My advice to Joshua is; get stuck in the best way he knows how! Put your best foot forward. Swing away, swing away!”
When Joshua was defeated by Usyk over the weekend, Fury’s chances of fighting for the undisputed heavyweight title was left hanging. If anything, it will have to be shelved after Joshua “activated in principle” a rematch clause to take on new IBF, WBA, and WBO champion Usyk at an unannounced date.
Fury did not, however, criticise Joshua for relinquishing his title reign. Rather, the WBC champion said: “I’ve got no interest in slating anybody or kicking anybody while they are down. It’s not my style. I like to pick on people who are doing well, who are successful, on top of their game.
“I don’t like picking on people who are down, probably at their lowest point, and probably mentally unstable after a loss after a long reign. Joshua has to do what he’s got to do. I can’t say I’m interested because I’ve got ‘the Bronze Bomber’ next. Whoever’s next? We’ll deal with them too.
“I can’t be thinking about what happened in other fights. I can only think about me.”
After fighting to a draw in his first bout against Wilder for the WBC belt, Fury dominated the American in their rematch, knocking Wilder to the floor twice en route to a seventh-round stoppage after Wilder’s corner threw in the towel to save their boxer from further punishment.
Since then, Wilder has alleged that his ring-walk costume fatigued his legs, that Fury’s gloves were unlawfully loaded (which the WBC refuted), and that his then-trainer Mark Breland was “disloyal”
Those are claims that Fury rubbished. “It made him less of a man, less of a character. If you get beaten, shake the man’s hand and move on. Lots of fighters have lost. Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson lost fights. It’s what they do after they lose that makes them who they are. When some people lose, they have to make up an excuse.”
The Brit assured fans of his determination to finish Wilder off. “I will go full-out attack, full inventory, from round one until it finishes,” Fury said. “It will either be me or Wilder, and I can’t anticipate it being myself. It’s took me six weeks [with new trainer Sugarhill Steward] to go from a slick counter-puncher to an aggressive knockout puncher.
“Wilder has 17 months since we fought to change his style. He could have got a degree from college in that time if he had worked hard enough!”
