Anthony Joshua has called fellow heavyweight Tyson Fury “the best do it” in response to criticism of the “Gypsy King”’s resume.
WBC champion Fury is set to defend his title against Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium on 23 April, while Joshua will seemingly have to wait for a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, who took “AJ”’s WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles in September and is currently aiding his native Ukraine’s defence against the ongoing Russian invasion.
Undefeated Fury, 33, has said he will retire after fighting fellow Briton Whyte, and a Twitter user replied to one of Joshua’s posts to mock Fury’s record.
“Tyson Fury says he’s hanging up as the best to do it with a resume of [Derek] Chisora, an injured [Wladimir] Klitchsko, [Otto] Wallin & [Deontay] Wilder 3 times,” wrote the user, accompanying the words with a meme of a number of NBA legends laughing.
Joshua, 32, responded to the post by writing: “He is the best to do it I can’t disagree.”
Some users suggested that the Briton’s tweet was sarcastic, with many defending the calibre of Fury’s opponents.
In his last two bouts, Fury (31-0-1, 22 knockouts) stopped the previously unbeaten Wilder to win then retain the WBC heavyweight title, which he puts on the line against Whyte in April.
Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) lost the other major heavyweight belts to Usyk with a unanimous decision loss to the unbeaten Ukrainian in north London in September.
“AJ” triggered a rematch clause soon thereafter, and the Briton was expected to face Usyk again in May or June. With Usyk having returned home to help his country in its defence against the ongoing invasion by Russia, however, a second bout between the southpaw and Joshua looks unlikely to materialise any time soon.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told Fight Hub TV: “We obviously respect Oleksandr Usyk and our thoughts are with everybody in Ukraine.
“We’ll give him the time that he needs and we don’t know how long that’s gonna take.”
