WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, has said that he would not be retiring from the sport without having had the opportunity to box Anthony Joshua. The two boxers, undoubtedly the biggest names in the heavyweight division, have been billed to face each other at different times, but the fights had never happened. 

Last year, when Joshua was still the WBA, WBO, and IBF champion, there were plans for he and Fury to meet in an undisputed fixture, but that never happened and they went on to fight different people instead, and then Joshua lost his titles to Oleksandr Usyk. 

Some months back, Fury had reached out to Joshua for a December fixture, but issues around signing the contract forced the fight to be scrapped. But Fury has still not given up on the prospect of boxing Joshua. 

Speaking recently on a podcast, Fury said that the fight with Joshua was something he would love to see as a boxing fan. He said: “I don’t think I can retire today because I need that Joshua fight. 

“We have been trying to make that fight for years. It’s the fight that people want to see. It’s the fight that I want to see as a boxing fan.”

Speaking further, he bemoaned the end of an era dominated by he, Joshua, and Deontay Wilder, adding that it would not be right if the fight with Joshua did not happen now: “For the last four or five years, there has been this three-headed monster: me, Wilder, Joshua. 

“Joshua and Wilder have been slain, and I’m the last one standing. All of a sudden, you’ve got some new people coming up now – Joe Joyce, Daniel Dubois, Usyk’s gate-crashed the party.

“Now there’s a load of new blood that wasn’t there five years ago and it’s like, ‘can you beat this person?’

“But I think it would be an absolute dying travesty if me and Joshua didn’t fight in this era.”

Fury, who would face Derek Chisora this December, already has to bother about meeting Usyk next if he manages to defend his title after his next fight. This means that the fight with Joshua might take some time to happen before it comes to pass, if it ever happens at all.  

Leon Osamor