Anthony Joshua has claimed that Tyson Fury is "the best to do it", but fans are convinced he's trolling his heavyweight rival.
A fan joked on social media that Fury was going to retire claiming to be the greatest fighter of all time with a relatively unremarkable record, mocking some of his biggest opponents.
They posted a photo of Michael Jordan laughing captioned: " Tyson Fury says he’s hanging up as the best to do it with a resume of Chisora, an injured Klitchsko, Wallin & Wilder three times".
The tweet was in response to an unrelated post from Joshua, where he was drinking a cup of tea, and garnered hundreds of likes from fellow Joshua fans.
But the two-time heavyweight champion surprised followers when he responded by saying: "He is the best to do it I can’t disagree."
However, many followers believe that Joshua is engaging in some banter with Fury, with one replying "AJ is being sarcastic guys, also if this fight happens, AJ will be victorious."
Another said "AJ the king of sarcasm," while one fan added "AJ’s legacy > Fury's legacy."
But generally, a number of Fury fans came to defend the current world heavyweight champion, claiming that the Manchester native's wins over Wilder and Klitschko were more impressive than any on Joshua's record.
"Much respect champ," one began. "But you should know, he’s way better than you, resumes can be padded (like yours).
"His Klitschko win is better than yours and you have no win like the Wilder wins, which one of your opponents could even give him a close fight? Thank Eddie.
"Usyk moved up a division and almost sparked you out ffs," another said. "Fury has conquered the states way his trilogy against Wilder.
"No one from Britain comes close to big Fury.
"Whilst you and Eddie were squabbling over zeros on cheques big fury stepped up to the plate and won a trilogy."
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Joshua has been preparing for a world heavyweight title rematch against Oleksandr Usyk since losing his belts back in September, while Fury is set to face Dillian Whyte on April 23 at Wembley Stadium.
But the unified heavyweight title clash appears to be on the back burner as Usyk remains in his native Ukraine amid the country's conflict with Russia.
The plan had been for Joshua to fight a few weeks after Fury, with the winners of the two fights to face each other by the end of the year.
But Fury claims that he'll retire after facing Whyte at Wembley in front of a massive sold out crowd at the iconic London stadium in his first fight on UK soil since 2018.
“This is the final fight of my career, I'm retiring after this,” Fury said at a press conference last week. “$150million in the bank, healthy, young, I’m going to buy a massive yacht abroad.
