Fury won’t fight Joshua says Usyk will beat Nigerian

Heavyweight boxing star Tyson Fury has confirmed that he intends to retire after fighting Dillian Whyte, ruling out a showdown with Anthony Joshua.

For years it’s been talked about as one of the biggest possible bouts in the sport but unfortunately, for one reason or the other, we’ve never seen Tyson Fury collide with Anthony Joshua.

The two men have circled one another and at times have seemed to be on the verge of making the fight official. Alas, it now looks like their paths will never cross – provided that Fury keeps his word and retires after taking on Whyte next Saturday night.

The pair of heavyweight juggernauts will meet on April 23 with The Ring and WBC heavyweight titles on the line in front of 94,000 fans at Wembley. ‘The Gypsy King’ is the clear favourite to grab the victory and maintain his unbeaten record, whereas Whyte’s only unavenged defeat in pro boxing came at the hands of Joshua.

In his pre-fight open workout on Tuesday, Fury was asked by talkSPORT about how serious he is regarding retirement.

“There’s nothing for me to achieve.

“I’ve won every belt in the world that there is to win. I’ve broke all records.

“No-one in my era has won the Ring Magazine belt, only me. No-one in my era has ever been lineal champion, only me.

“I’ve won every single belt there is to win in the sport and I’m getting out healthy, in one piece and undefeated.”

The attention then turned, of course, to Anthony Joshua.

“Nah, they’ve had their chances. That’s sailed, gone.

“They’ve had so many chances to grow a pair, step in the ring and do battle with the Gypsy King, and they didn’t do it. For whatever reason, whether it was gonna be money, or belts, or pride.

“They had their chance and now it’s flew away.

“I’m sorry, but this is it. Tune in now, because you’re never gonna get to see big GK in action again after this. This is it.”

Joshua is reportedly set to face Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch of their September 2021 scrap later this year.

Fury expects Oleksandr Usyk to retain his unified crown against Anthony Joshua.

“Here’s how it goes. You’ve heard it here first. He’s going to get busted by Usyk in the rematch - if he even has the guts to take it. Then he’s finished, career over. Three losses, goodnight Vienna, got beat by a middleweight, move over," Fury told The Sun.

Fury explains that Joshua could have avoided the Usyk rematch by accepting a hefty step-aside agreement - which would have allowed 'The Gypsy King' to face Usyk in a full division unification.

“He had the opportunity to make it all go away and let me take care of his dirty washing and pay him money to do it, but he didn’t because greed got the better of him," Fury said.

“They thought I was a desperate man and that I wanted to fight for the undisputed title that much that I’d give away everything. The demands these people were making were ridiculous. Out of every negative situation, something positive has happened and I’m smiling now like a Cheshire Cat.

“I couldn’t give one flying hoot sniff about that [Joshua] fight not happening. About that bodybuilder, I have no interest. When he was an unbeaten man, not a problem, when he was a champion, not a bother, but now he has nothing to offer. What did he say years ago? I only want to fight the people who have the belts. All of a sudden, he doesn’t have any belts.”