TYSON FURY and Anthony Joshua are going to be the absolute best of enemies now their two-fight deal has been ‘confirmed’.
Ten action-packed years on from their first ever meeting, when the Gypsy King travelled to London for some hard sparring rounds before beating Derek Chisora, the pair have agreed 50-50 financial terms for a couple of showdowns.
Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have developed a unique relationship as the best of frenemies
Fury admitted AJ got the better of him in sparring a decade ago but changed his story to suggest the Watford man was batteredCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
In 2010, when 6ft 9in Fury was a rising pro and AJ was a promising but raw amateur, just two years into his training, Fury gushed about his new training partner.
The 31-year-old undefeated WBC king said: “I tell you what, he’s very, very, very good.
“Watch out for that name, Anthony Joshua, he’s one prospect for the future.
“I rate myself as one of the top heavyweights in the world – he came at me for three rounds and he gave me a beating. I’m not going to deny it.
“I don’t mind telling anyone that he beat me up in sparring.”
Plenty has changed in the decade that has followed.
AJ has collected almost as many gold medals and world titles as insults from Fury.
In the words of the Gypsy King, the Watford 30-year-old has been labelled a bum, a dosser, a big stiff idiot, a one-dimensional bodybuilder and, to this day, promoter Eddie Hearn’s plump but simple cash cow.
The intervening years have, in Fury’s unmistakable words, morphed that sparring session into a three-round walloping AJ barely survived.
Still, in the warped way only boxers can, the pair remain bonded by a bizarre and bloody brotherhood.
Fury will regularly FaceTime the WBA, IBF and WBO boss on his battered iPhone 7 and playfully promise to batter him when they finally meet.
He’ll end the call by wishing his rival and his family good health – and mean it.
One such call happened on the Fury family’s recent reality series.
A similar instance came following AJ’s shock first pro defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr last year.
Just three days after branding his fellow Brit a “p****, s***house bum dosser”, Fury sent a classy tweet which read: “We have our back and Forth’s [sic] but @anthonyfjoshua changed his stars through life.
“Heavyweight boxing, these things happen, rest up, recover, regroup and come again.”
It all seems like a game to Fury while deep-thinking Joshua struggles to understand the waves of praise and criticism that come in equal measure.
Most recently, when asked about his relationship with his nemesis, he said: “You never know what you’re going to get with him.
“He’s either at the top of the world, conquering the world, or at the bottom of the ocean and he needs to find a balance.”
If we ever get to the opening press conference it will be intriguing to see which Fury arrives.
Will it be Prince Charming aiming to disarm his foe, playing possum for the camera?
Or will the acid-tongued mindgames master drag up AJ’s past mistakes in and outside the ring in an attempt to unsettle his vast mainstream appeal and empire?
So many things stand in the way of us ever finding out.
But fight fans would probably spend another decade in lockdown misery to guarantee we finally see these two titans clash and settle it once and for all.
Joshua never quite knows which Fury he will be in touch with – the chief insulter or cheery palCredit: AFP or licensors
Fury sometimes will randomly FaceTime his heavyweight rival and wish his family well – and mean it, too
Tyson Fury confirms Anthony Joshua fight deal is agreed and vows to ‘annihilate’ him after he ‘smashes Wilder’s face in’
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
