John Fury, father of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, believes Anthony Joshua needs to defeat Deontay Wilder in order to secure a showdown with the ‘Gypsy King.’
There are ongoing discussions for Joshua and Wilder to collide in the first half of 2024.
They were initially targeted to clash on a date in December in Saudi Arabia, but their negotiations have faced some hurdles with unexpected changes to the boxing power brokers in Saudi Arabia.
Fury has collided with Wilder on three occasions.
In their first meeting, in 2028, Fury overcame two knockdowns to battle Wilder to a twelve round split draw. Their 2020 rematch saw Fury dropped Wilder twice before stopping him in seven rounds. The 2021 trilogy encounter was a barnburner, with Fury once again overcoming two knockdowns to drop Wilder three times for a knockout in the eleventh.
Fury is back on October 28, in a non-title cross-sport boxing match with former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Provided he walks away without injury, a deal has already been reached for Fury to collide with IBF, WBA, WBO, IBO world champion Oleksandr Usyk.
“The only way that [Fury-Wilder] can happen is if he beats Deontay Wilder. Everyone is skipping Wilder and no one wants to face him. I can’t stand him as a man, but every boxer on the planet is sh!t scared of him except the Gypsy King, who’s beat him twice,” John Fury explained to The Daily Mail.
“If AJ wants to face Tyson, let him defeat Wilder. No one wants Wilder. They can’t take Wilder’s power. They’ve all got to face Wilder to get to ‘The Gypsy King’. If they think they’re going to tread low and then get paid multi millions when they don’t deserve it… at the end of the day, [Joshua] had an easy ride getting the belts. Let him earn his stripes to get to the Gypsy King.
“They’re going to have to line up and do something big. Tyson went to everyone’s backyard to get them titles. If Joshua beats Wilder, that fight can be made in 30 seconds. If AJ is good enough, let him beat Wilder and that makes this fight mega big. But at the moment it’s dead in the water because he doesn’t deserve it. He can’t face a few bums and face the Gypsy King, can he? I know the public want to see it but let him earn it.”