Tyson Fury reveals major error Anthony Joshua made in hunt to unify division as he prepares for Ngannou and Usyk fights
TYSON FURY insists he won’t blow the biggest fight of his life like old enemy Anthony Joshua did.
In 2019 the London 2012 legend was supposed to win his US debut against chunky little challenger Andy Ruiz Jr, before putting his WBA, IBF and WBO belts up against then WBC king Deontay Wilder.
AJ took his eye off the ball and suffered a brutal four-knockdown loss to the Mexican and – even with a rematch win – the undisputed honour always evaded him.
Now Fury has the WBC crown and has agreed a decider with WBA, IBF and WBO boss Oleksandr Usyk.
All he has to do is survive the crossover challenge of MMA monster Francis Ngannou, who makes his boxing debut next Saturday night in Riyadh when they meet.
The similarities are striking and Fury uses the coincidences to hit Joshua – who lost back-to-back bouts with former amateur middleweight Usyk – with.
“I am not looking past Ngannou,” he said. “I don’t look ahead to other fights or get involved in boxing politics.
“When you count your chickens before they hatch you usually come unstuck.
“I remember a few years ago when Anthony Joshua was in New York to box a little unknown called Andy Ruiz Jr but all he could talk about was fighting Deontay Wilder.
“He didn’t concentrate on the little fat fella in front of him and he ended up getting wiped out!
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“I don’t do stuff like that.
“I don’t care if Usyk is ringside, I am only looking forward to a good fight with Francis Ngannou.
“Whether it is easy or hard I will be prepared for it but I won’t be taking my eye off of it, especially not for some middleweight guy when I have a giant in front of me.”
Fury is going up against Ngannou in the ring and David Beckham on the box, with both sporting stars having their family lives revealed on Netflix.
But the 6ft 9in 20st behemoth doesn’t want to get into manhood measuring competition with Golden Balls, on or off the screen.
“I watched his show and thought it was good,” he said over Zoom from a Riyadh bed.
“I’ve never been one for comparing people and all that, it doesn’t mean much to me.
“Who’s bigger, who has got more money, who has got the biggest dick. It’s irrelevant.
“You just have to be happy with who you are as a person — if you have a small corey (Gypsy slang for penis) you have to own it and that’s it.”
Fury used to watch a couple of Rocky movies to psyche himself up to amateur tournaments as a gangly kid, so the recent death of Burt Young – who played no-nonsense Paulie in the iconic boxing franchise – caught him off guard and left a mark.
He revealed: “As you get a bit older, as we all are now, people start dropping off around you, people who are close to you, and it becomes a big part of our lives.
“Someone has died, a friend, a relative, whoever. You keep hearing about all these famous people you used to watch on TV one at a time dropping off and soon it’ll be our turn.
“So we want to enjoy it while we’re here and that’s it.”
Fury v Ngannou will be exclusively live from Riyadh Season, Saudi Arabia on TNT Sports Box Office, Saturday 28th October, for more info: tntsports.co.uk/boxoffice
