Anthony Joshua has been caught on camera dishing out a warning to a group of terrified university students after he was let into their halls of residence. The students had heckled the former heavyweight champion over what they saw as a reluctance to face Tyson Fury in a mouth-watering all-British scrap.
AJ and Fury have so far been unable to get into the ring, despite the money and interest that would inevitably be on offer. The former’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk and the latter’s retirement claim after defeating Dillian Whyte have since made the fight even more of a long-shot, and the frustration may be weighing on Joshua.
Students supposedly teased the notion that the 32-year-old was afraid to fight Fury, who remains undefeated after 33 professional bouts. In eye-opening footage, the towering Joshua was shown delivering stern words to the students, who were unsurprisingly stunned into silence. “Remember you’re running your mouth because when I start cracking your glass jaws, none of you will like it,” he said.
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“When your jaws start breaking and people start chasing you out of this uni, none of you will like it. Watch your mouths because you don’t know who you’re talking to sometimes. All that public eye b*******, I ain’t into all that.”
Joshua trains at Loughborough University, where a witness told The Sun: “I don’t think they expected him to retaliate and I don’t think they’ll be doing something like that again. But why would you target one of the toughest guys on the planet?”
A timeless showdown between Joshua and Fury has been in the pipeline for many years, with promoter Eddie Hearn even claiming that it was a ‘done deal’ in 2021. Deontay Wilder then took legal action against Fury’s camp and demanded a third fight, which the Brit won, but AJ lost his fight against Usyk in the meantime.
Having lost four of his world heavyweight belts, winning them back is understandably Joshua’s top priority. Completing the finer details of his rematch with Usyk is proving complicated, however, with no official date set for the second match-up.
It may then be a case of convincing Fury to come out of retirement if Joshua prevails, although Usyk took their last meeting by convincing unanimous decision.
Changing Fury’s mind may not be an easy task. With at least one more huge fight to be made for the Gypsy King, many took his retirement claims with a pinch of salt, but a subsequent interview with Piers Morgan threw extra weight behind the idea that he is done with boxing.
“This is the truth, the gospel truth, nothing but the truth – I’m done,” he exclaimed. “I’m happy, I’m healthy, I’ve still got my brains, I can still talk. I’ve got a beautiful wife, I’ve got six kids. I’ve got umpteen belts, I’ve got plenty of money. I’ve got success, fame, glory. What more am I doing it for?”