Anthony Joshua has been told he needs to take at least two ‘warm-up fights’ between taking on Tyson Fury. An all-British blockbuster contest between the two heavyweight rivals has been talked about for several years.
Joshua defeated Jermaine Franklin on his comeback in London last Saturday - his first fight since a second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in August last year, with the Ukrainian defending his unified world heavyweight titles. Fury, meanwhile, retained his WBC heavyweight title against Derek Chisora in December.
But the manner of Joshua’s victory over Franklin was unconvincing. The No.34-ranked American Franklin took Joshua the full 12 rounds with AJ winning on points.
READ MORE: New Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk fight date offered as Joshua hint dropped
And Barry Hearn - the father of Joshua’s UK promoter Eddie and founder of Matchroom Boxing - believes the former world champion needs to up his game before meeting Fury in the ring.
The Matchroom Boxing founder told iFL TV: “In today’s world, the temptations for making that fight and earning a colossal amount of money may outweigh the old-fashioned common sense of people like me. Definitely [two more warm-up fights] – but we live in a commercial world.”
After defeating Franklin, Joshua called out Fury for what would be a long-awaited fight - and Hearn admitted the Gyspy King would be confident of brushing AJ aside having seen his most recent performance.
Hearn said: “I would think that Tyson Fury would look at that performance and say ‘I am ready to fight him’, that takes a big obstacle away.
“He [Joshua] has to decide whether he wants to go for the big payday or if he wants to build and learn for a bit longer, in which case he needs two or three more warm-up fights. The public don’t like that, they are crying out for it, is it time to take the money? Maybe.”
On the prospect of facing Fury, Joshua said: “You know me, I like to provide for the fans. I know who the fans want. Who do the fans want? They said Fury?
“The ball is in his court, I will 100 per cent be honoured to compete for the WBC heavyweight championship of the world. I stand here and say that proudly, it would be an honour, so wherever you are if you're listening.
“You know my management, you know my promoter. We've had dialogue before, so let's continue this and hopefully we can get this on sooner rather than later. We ain't getting any younger.”
The representatives of Fury and Joshua have failed to agree on several proposed fights in the past, while this week Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum gave an update on the Wythenshawe fighter's return to the ring, with Usyk a realistic option later in 2023.
Arum said: “I think Usyk knows that he has to fight Frank's (Warren) fighter, (Daniel) Dubois, which it isn’t an easy fight but Usyk should win. And I think Tyson might look to fight Joshua...if they both win (Fury and Usyk) I think they’ll revisit the fight for late November, December.”
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