ANTHONY JOSHUA has been backed to beat Tyson Fury by one of the Gypsy King’s former sparring partners.
The British heavyweight duo have finally agreed to fight on December 3, with a 60-40 purse split in Fury’s favour.
AJ, 32, is coming off back to back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk – but Christopher Lovejoy is backing him to triumph against WBC champ Fury.
Lovejoy, 38, claimed to have knocked the Gypsy King out of the ring when they sparred a number of years ago – a claim laughed off by the WBC champ.
Taking to Twitter to give his prediction, Lovejoy said: “I’m not even a fan of AJ.
“But I got him beating Fury, let’s not forget Fury got dropped by (Deontay) Wilder. I also knocked Fury out the ring before.”
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Lovejoy boasts a 20-1 professional record – although his defeat was a humbling second round loss at the hands of Mahmoud Charr last year – while his wins have come against fighters with losing records.
Giving his version of what went on with Lovejoy, Fury told iFL TV in 2019: “What happened was, there was this big fella, six-foot-five, 20 stone, 18-0, he was highly rated by the WBA.
“And he was saying all over Las Vegas, all in the heavyweight gyms, ‘I’m going to knock Tyson Fury out. He’s a bum, he’s this, he’s that.’
“So one of the trainers at the gym said, ‘Oh Tyson, there’s this guy who said he’s gonna knock you out.’ I said, ‘Are you going to knock me out, are you?’
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“He said, ‘Yeah, I am.’ I said, ‘Come down and do it then.’ So anyway I wasn’t [sparring] at the gym and he turned up to the gym.
“I said, ‘I’ll tell you what to do, come back tomorrow and I’m gonna knock you out. If I don’t, it don’t count.’
“He sort of flapped it, didn’t know how to take it. But he left and he came back tomorrow. My cousin said, ‘I want you to drop him with a straight left hand in the first round.’
“I said, ‘You got it.’ He comes running at me, I just went slip, boom and down he went. All 20 stone of him on the floor.”
Joshua expects to have a contract to fight Fury in the next couple of days.
Promoter Eddie Hearn held talks with Frank Warren’s son George last week – conceding a take it or leave it 60-40 financial split on AJ’s instruction.
A source close to the Gypsy King told SunSport: “Tyson wants to leave win and win in style.
“He wants to leave no one in doubt who is the better fighter. He wants an early KO to put the whole debate about who is the better fighter to bed once and for all.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
