Tyson Fury might be easier opponent for Joshua than Usyk

Joshua has fought Usyk twice, but on both occasions has come unstuck, losing in both London and Saudi Arabia.

Tyson Fury might be easier opponent for Joshua than Usyk

Nigerian-born former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has been told exactly why fighting his English rival Tyson Fury could be an easier fight than when he took on recent opponent Oleksandr Usyk.

Joshua has fought Usyk twice, but on both occasions has come unstuck, losing in both London and Saudi Arabia.

Despite his two defeats, AJ has seemingly been given the chance to contest for the WBC heavyweight title after accepting an offer from champion Fury.

The English pair agreed to meet in the ring on December 3 in Cardiff in what is expected to be one of the biggest fights in recent British boxing history.

In spite of the agreement, according to Fury the bout is now off after revealing Joshua had missed the deadline he had set to sign the fight contract.

If and when the fight does go ahead though, Derek Chisora’s trainer Ron Charles believes the Gypsy King could be an easier test that Usyk for the Englishman due to being a ‘much bigger target’.

Speaking to Seconds Out, Charles said: “Usyk is a much smaller guy. AJ had to stoop down to fight Usyk. In his stance, he lost all of his natural attributes, whether that was right or wrong. He was doing well with it in the second fight…

“He had to stoop down for the height reasons, but with Fury he doesn’t have to. Actually you have to look up, punch up. Fury is a much bigger target. There’s a lot of factors, one has to look at how they [Joshua’s team] have calculated it, and they can say ‘can we win this? Yes we can win this’.”

Of course it remains to be seen as to whether the fight will even go ahead following Fury’s comments on social media. The Gypsy King's promoter Frank Warren, though, is optimistic that the bout still has a strong chance of going ahead. “We’re trying to get it done, we’re working very hard to get it over the line,” Warren told talkSPORT. If everyone agreed everything, it would be a huge undertaking, but we could do it that way.