WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has expressed his desire to face Anthony Joshua twice after his undisputed title clash with Oleksandr Usyk, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Fury will take on fellow heavyweight world champion Usyk in Saudi Arabia on May 18 and if Fury wins, Saudi entertainment chairman Turki Alalshikh will clamour for him to face Joshua in the Middle East later this year.
However, Fury has already agreed to stage a rematch with Usyk whether he wins or loses next month and has said that Joshua will have to wait and then he’ll face him in Saudi and London.
“If you are Usyk and you are paid a lot of money to lose against me but you already have the rematch then why would you not want it? Unless Turki wants to give him something like £50million to step aside – but as far as I know nobody wants to throw away that sort of money for free,” Fury said.
“Usyk beat the old sausage twice – Joshua lost two attempts at him. The first was a boxing lesson and the second was at least a bit closer. But he lost them both fair and square, and even had a bit of a meltdown in the ring after the second one. He lost, he had his chance and he lost, so now it is my turn and Usyk’s turn and it’s not about him. But after I have dealt with Usyk twice, then I will deal with the Joshua sausage twice, once in Saudi and once over here in London. I will have two fried sausages sizzling in a pan, instead of one.”
Fury was due to fight Usyk in February but pulled out after suffering a cut in sparring and he insists there is no bad blood between the pair.
“It’s not personal, it’s strictly business for both fighters. There’s a lot of stuff on the line, but I don’t hate him, he don’t hate me.
“I respect him, as a man, as a fighter. Everyone has to respect the man’s achievements. Good fighter – I have a tough challenge in front of me. But I’m very confident in my ability and I’m very confident I’ll beat the guy. When the cruiserweights step up to the big boys, usually they get found wanting. You can beat the average big ones but you can’t beat the elite big ones, because size really matters.”