Tyson Fury has needled at his heavyweight boxing rivals despite insisting he has retired from the sport. The WBC champion last fought on April 23 – knocking out fellow Brit Dillian Whyte in front of a raucous Wembley crowd.
He claimed he would be hanging up his gloves after that fight, but the Mancunian is still keeping an eye on his competition. Queensbury Promotions posted a video on Instagram of Joe Joyce taking part in an interview with Unibet where he was asked if he could beat Fury.
“It would be a very technical boxing match but I would just have to wear him down and juggernaut him and beat him at his own game,” the Londomer told host Dev Sahni. “It’s a big ask, it’s a 50/50 fight but let’s hope he stays unretired and comes and fights me, I would love that fight.”
Fury then took to the comments and wrote an emphatic statement not only aimed at Joyce but also his other rivals – including Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk. “THE ONLY WAY ANYBODY COULD OF BEAT ME IS WITH A BAT WHILE I’M SLEEPING!!!” Fury penned, before Joyce added: “Wait I thought you’re retired, if you want some I’ll give it ya.”
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But now the 2015 European champion is convinced he has the skills and the game plan to beat his former foe. “I’ll be coming with more skills,” Joyce told Boxing Social. “I have [coach Ismael] Salas by my side to set the game plan and work on the skills etc.
“I didn’t even get Southpaw sparring for the first fight I had with Usyk. I think that on the repeat, styles make fights and I reckon I’ll bang him up.” Usyk defeated Joshua last September on points and took his heavyweight titles in the process. Joyce thinks the outcome in their proposed rematch will be the same.
“I thought as soon as the fight started with him and Usyk, Usyk went straight to work,” Joyce explained. “He knew how to beat Joshua and now that he’s already beaten him, to do it again will be kind of the same. I’ve been in the ring with Usyk and I felt like I put on a better performance, actually, Chisora put on a great performance against Usyk. That was much closer than the one against Joshua. So, I think it will be a repeat unless Joshua can do something drastically different and just nail him down.”