ANTHONY JOSHUA is adamant his long-awaited Battle of Britain with Tyson Fury “will happen” before the pair both retire.
The duo were seemingly on course for a shock December dust-up when WBC king Fury threw AJ a world title lifeline weeks after his second consecutive defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
A deal for the biggest bout in the history of British boxing, however, couldn’t be reached, prompting Fury to pivot to a trilogy fight with Derek Chisora.
But AJ has no doubt in his mind he’ll share the ring with the Gypsy King before it’s all said and done.
The former two-time unified heavyweight champion said: “It will happen, it will happen. [We’re the] same generation come on.”
Fury set Joshua a number of public deadlines to get his side of the deal done before pulling the plug on what would’ve been one of the most lucrative bouts in the history of the sport.
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But Joshua was more than happy to let his rival do all the talking while his team tried to finalise the fight.
He told DAZN: “My dance partner, the last geezer I was supposed to fight, he’s a good dance partner.
“He handles the social media side. I think we’d do good business behind the scenes.”
Fury’s social media theatrics may have changed the public’s perception of him, but they have done little to dent Joshua’s respect for him.
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AJ said: “Even aside from that, that’s like the entertainment side.
“Just as two competitors, right? Two fighters. He’s definitely someone that’s a fighting man.
“And what people fail to realise, they say the social media stuff is annoying.
“But culturally speaking, from Tyson Fury’s culture, the gypsy culture, it’s like on the phone.
“And if you watch the documentaries on Netflix and stuff, you kind of see it’s embedded in their culture.
“It’s what he’s always seen around him. What we see is like, ‘Why is he on social media?’
“Where I grew up, I’ve been around that community as well. So I know that’s just how they call out fights.
“It’s nothing personal. But from my culture, we don’t really deal with things like that.
“We’re a bit more low-key and handle our business. That’s where there is a bit of a culture clash.
“But two fighting guys, asides from tens of thousands of people coming out to an amazing stadium, he’s a fighting man and he wants to fight.
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“Regardless of who is watching, he just wants to fight and so do I.”
Joshua is expected to return to the ring early next year, with a trilogy fight with rival Dillian Whyte one of several bouts currently on the table.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
