‘Very Tough’ For Joshua To Beat Fury, Says Haye

Tyson Fury beat Deontay Wilder in their third heavyweight fight in Las Vegas, and former British heavyweight boxer David Haye dismissed Anthony Joshua’s chances of beating Fury if they would ever meet.

Fury recovered from twice being knocked down in the fourth round to finally overcome his bitter rival in the 11th round, knocking him to the canvas for the third time.

Who Fury fights next will depend on the outcome of mandatory WBC challenger Dillian Whyte’s fight with Otto Wallin on October 30. Regardless, there will be no clash with Joshua in the immediate future.

Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, confirmed that the 31-year-old had triggered his rematch clause with Oleksandr Usyk, who outclassed ‘AJ’ last month to take his WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles. The fight is expected to take place in the spring of 2022, with Joshua said to be open to the possibility of fighting Usyk in Kiev, Ukraine.

Hearn has still said he’s confident the much-awaited fight between Fury and Joshua will happen at a later date, but whether it will be a unification bout for world heavyweight titles could now be dependent on whether the latter can avenge his latest defeat.

Haye, who like Usyk won world titles at both cruiserweight and heavyweight level, has previously backed Joshua to beat Fury. However, after watching the dramatic night in Las Vegas, has done a u-turn.

“I think off the strength of that performance, it would be very tough for AJ,”  Haye said in an interview.

“Having watched AJ’s last performance against Usyk, the shots that Fury took down the pipe from Wilder, he was able to get back up and rough him up.”

“The fact that AJ stood at range with Usyk having a boxing match, is AJ going to beat Fury in a boxing match? I don’t believe so.”

• Read more: Fury-Joshua Fight Unlikely To Happen, Says Boxing Promoter
• Read more: Fury Floors Wilder In 11th Round, Retains WBC title

Prior to Fury’s win against Wilder, his co-promoter, Bob Arum, cast doubt on a potential ‘Battle of Britain’ between his client and Whyte, both 33.

“That could be a big, big fight for Tyson, particularly if we held it in UK,” Arum said. “That is not out of the question, Dillian Whyte is a capable heavyweight and a fight against Tyson Fury or Wilder (or) whoever wins would be a very interesting fight.”

“Last time he (Whyte) was mandatory, he fought (Alexander) Povetkin and got knocked on his ass. I look for Wallin to clearly beat Whyte, so I’m not even taking it into consideration.”

Whyte was beaten by Povetkin in August 2020 but seven months later, avenged his defeat by stopping the Russian with a clinical display. Should he prevail against Swedish fighter Wallin, 30, Whyte is expected to try and ramp up negotiations to fight Fury.

Chidi Nwoke/The Guardian.