TYSON FURY has praised Anthony Joshua for handling his loss to Oleksandr Usyk with class – unlike his opponent Deontay Wilder.
AJ was schooled by the Ukrainian at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last month but made no excuses for his devastating loss, which ended his second reign as unified heavyweight champ.
That was in stark contrast to former WBC champion Wilder, who spouted several unfounded conspiracy theories after his defeat to Fury last February.
And Fury believes Joshua’s handling of the loss – as well as his shock 2019 defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr – is a testament to his character.
Ahead of his rematch with The Bronze Bomber on Sunday morning, Fury said: “You’ve seen Anthony Joshua lose all his belts to Oleksandr Usyk.
“He didn’t make any excuses, he didn’t cry about it.
“Same with the Andy Ruiz Jr knockout, never made excuses.
“That, in my opinion, is a different man than what I’m facing.”
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The Gypsy King confronted Wilder over his cheating allegations during a heated pre-fight press conference on Wednesday.
He said: “I ask the question: if I only won because I cheated, what was the point of changing everything and doing all this other work?
“Deep down in his soul, he knows that he lost and he’ll lose again.
“After this fight he’ll be back working in that fast-food chain that he was working at earlier on in his career. It’s retirement for him.
“You’re in denial and you’re getting knocked out.
He didn’t make any excuses, he didn’t cry about it.
Tyson Fury on Anthony Joshua’s reaction to losing to Oleksandr Usyk
“Do yourself a favour and retire, your legacy’s in bits, all the excuses, you’ve been destroyed.
“No one’s even believed you, everyone’s laughing at you. You’re a weak man.”
Wilder, however, refused to backtrack on his sensational allegations.
The 35-year-old said: “I don’t regret it and I’ll go to my grave believing what I believe in.
“I know things for fact, I have confirmation, clarity of a lot of things.
“One thing about it: men lie, women lie, but your eyes don’t lie with what you see.
“People can believe what they want, we’re all human, but the eyes don’t lie, and it only made me better as a man, as a fighter to understand, to see things and know things for facts. It made me even hungrier than before.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
