Anthony Joshua reveals the warning Tyson Fury has been giving him phone
Boxing is a sport of fine margins, one false move and the next thing you know you’re stumbling up from the canvas asking what day it is. So, athletes at the top of the sport are always trying to find a way of getting the edge over their opponent, playing mind games to psyche the…
Boxing is a sport of fine margins, one false move and the next thing you know you’re stumbling up from the canvas asking what day it is.
So, athletes at the top of the sport are always trying to find a way of getting the edge over their opponent, playing mind games to psyche the other out and take advantage when it matters.
In the modern era, no one is better at the dark arts than the outspoken Tyson Fury.
And according to fellow Brit Anthony Joshua, the Mancunian has taken their rivalry to new levels, and even called him up just to say he’s going to ‘knock him out’.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Joshua said: “He’s an interesting character. Tyson will call me randomly on the phone and he will be like, ‘have a little laugh and I will have a little laugh’.
“I will say I’m going to knock you out,’ and then he will say ‘shut up I’ll knock you out.
“It’s just me and Tyson, through and through the respect’s there, but we’re fighting men.”
But when asked whether the two were best buds, Joshua was quick to say: “Not friends, not friends, not friends but there’s a mutual respect there, I respect the man, he’s done his thing.”
Their war of words has been rumbling on for years now, with fans desperate to see the two Brits get in the ring and settle for it once and for all.
And according to Joshua, he can’t wait to get on with Fury.
He said: “He’s a fighting man, he started at the age of 12, I started at the age of 18, I didn’t do anything else before.
“I used to play a bit of football in the local area but when it came to boxing, that’s where my heart is attached to, I love this sport and I’d love to fight him one day.”
Fury admitted ahead of the Otto Wallin fight last September that he and Joshua would have a “bit of a back and forth” on the phone.
“I call him and sometimes I say, ‘What’s happening, AJ, how are you mush?'” he told BT Sport.
“We have a bit of back and forth; I tell him I’m going to knock him out, he tells me he’s going to knock me out.
“I said, ‘After your last performance [against Andy Ruiz Jr last June] you need a lot of improvement to knock me out!’
“We have a little laugh, it’s a bit of banter. You have all these heavyweight champions and famous sports people on your phone, you have a couple of beers, what are you going to do?
“It’s just me having a bit of banter. I call Dillian Whyte, Wayne Rooney and Anthony Joshua.”
Source: Dominic Smithers
