ANTHONY JOSHUA has told Tyson Fury to reconsider his decision to “retire” in three fights time.
The Gypsy King, 31, claimed his career will be done after he rematches Deontay Wilder and fights unified champion Joshua and British banger Dillian Whyte.
Tyson Fury claimed he will retire in three fights timeCredit: EPA
Anthony Joshua, next to Andy Ruiz Jr, has told Fury not to retire so soonCredit: Getty Images – Getty
But domestic rival AJ has told Fury – who fights Wilder for a second time on February 22 – he should fight Andy Ruiz Jr, Luis Ortiz and the traveller’s pal Joseph Parker before calling it a day.
Joshua, 30, told iFL TV: “I think he should reconsider. I think he should add Luis Ortiz to that list, I think he should add Andy Ruiz to that list as well, I think he should add Joseph Parker to that list.
“Parker is a former world champion, Ruiz former world champion, Ortiz former world title challenger.
“So they’re all credible names to add to that list as well. In terms of solidifying his legacy, the only real name he’s got on his record is Wladimir Klitschko in my opinion.”
Joshua – who beat Parker for the WBO title in 2018 – was stunned by Ruiz in June before avenging the defeat in Saudi Arabia six months later.
During this time Fury had to Las Vegas fights to build his Stateside profile and ended the year with a WWE pay-per-view fight against Braun Strowman – with AJ left unimpressed by his rival’s 2019 opponents.
Joshua said: “I think those would be good names to have. When I look at who he fought last year, he fought Otto Wallin, Tom Schwarz and Braun Strowman.
“That’s his record last year – imagine if that was my record last year, who I fought last year, it wouldn’t go down too well!
“So I’m just saying, to get his name in the history books, I think he needs to be thinking bigger.”
Joshua called on Fury’s management to talk the Gypsy King out of an early retirement and insisted they will go on to fight twice before they both hang up the gloves.
“As a management person I’d be like ‘Fury, we need more, we ain’t stopping at three fights, you’ve got to go for the big dogs.
“‘We want to see you fight Anthony twice cos there’s going to be a rematch there, when he beats you you need to go again and try and beat him the second time.
“‘Dillian, who was the other one? Wilder. They’re going to fight in February and we need to keep you motivated.
“‘Then I want you to fight the recent former world champion Andy Ruiz, the former champion Joseph Parker, I want you to fight Povetkin, I want you to fight Luiz Ortiz.’ Do you know what I mean?
“There’s still a pool of heavyweights out there that you have to defeat to fight everyone in your era to go down in the history books in my opinion.
“So I advise him don’t stop, keep on going, you’ve done great things.
“But so far the only person that you’ve defeated with real credit to their name is Wladimir Klitschko and there’s a large pool of heavyweights out there that you can still challenge yourself with.”
Fury rematches Deontay Wilder next but AJ has told him to also fight Luis Ortiz, right,Credit: AP:Associated Press
Joshua has urged Fury to fight his former opponent Joseph ParkerCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Dillian Whyte discusses Tyson Fury’s upcoming fight with Deontay Wilder
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
