Anthony Joshua has told Tyson Fury to “shut the f*** up” and has vowed not to engage in a war of words with the Gypsy King. A high-profile bout with Fury is one of Joshua’s options after his victorious return to the ring.
Joshua defeated Jermaine Franklin on points on Saturday night. After the fight, the 33-year-old said he wanted Fury, Deontay Wilder or Dillian Whyte in his next battle.
Fury has often called out Joshua and wanted to strike a deal for a fight in December last year. However, they failed to agree terms and the Mancunian fought and beat Derek Chisora instead.
But Joshua says he will not engage in a drawn-out verbal exchange with Fury and has told the WBC heavyweight champion to “shut the f*** up”. Instead, he simply wants the pair to arrange fight terms.
Speaking after beating Franklin, Watford-born Joshua said of Fury: “I’ll be real, I’ll be real. I respect the man. He’s achieved a lot. I just feel I don’t need to trash talk, verbally trash talk someone to make myself feel better. That is just me personally.
“I am not a b****. I don’t want to be like, ‘he said this, he said that’. Save all that s***. If we’ll f***ing fight, let’s go. Other than that shut the f*** up and that’s just how I feel because I got to save my energy for the fight.
“You ain’t going to beat Tyson Fury in a verbal contest, he is a traveller innit? ‘Jimmy, I’m calling you out tomorrow to come and fight me at Bruxton Park’.
“They are born into that, I grew up with Gypsies, I grew up around them man and I’ve seen it time and time again calling each other out. That’s his background.”
Joshua overcame two surprise defeats against Oleksandr Usyk by beating Franklin in routine fashion. The former unified heavyweight champion wants the chance to win back his titles.
“There are other fighters like [Deontay] Wilder out there, that’s a massive interest. Dillian [Whyte], of course, that’s a massive interest. Fury is obviously the main one because he’s the champ. There are other options out there. We’ll see.”
It comes after Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, suggested Fury will be his client’s next opponent. Hearn said: “I truly believe that as long as AJ beats Franklin we will see him against Fury in the summer. Everyone accepts that AJ is a bigger draw for the UK fans than Oleksandr.”