Tyson Fury knows where AJ has come from.
Anthony Joshua’s longterm rival Tyson Fury offered a consolatory response after the Watford-born boxer’s seventh-round defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden.
The 29-year-old former Olympic champion lost his IBF, WBO and WBA world heavyweight titles as he suffered his first defeat in professional boxing, despite having begun the fight as a 1-25 favourite with bookmakers.
“I got beaten by a good fighter,” said 29-year-old Joshua in the fight’s aftermath. “It will be interesting to see how far he goes, but this is all part of the journey.
“He’s a champion for now, I shall return.”
https://twitter.com/062adams/status/1135068185705799682
There is a sense that this was not meant to happen. Ruiz took the bout at six weeks’ notice and in the build-up to the fight, Joshua spoke about the need to deliver a decisive victory that would set him up for facing off with Deontay Wilder in the coming months Instead, he found himself put on the floor four times before the referee finally decided enough was enough.
Before the fight, Joshua had told JOE about his desire to set up his long-awaited fight against fellow Brit, Tyson Fury, following a lengthy war of words of social media, but the result means a rewriting of the heavyweight division’s presumed plotlines. Joshua’s next fight will now be a rematch to try to reclaim his titles.
Although this means fans will have to wait even longer to see the two British heavyweights face off, Fury, who is currently preparing to fight Tom Schwarz in Las Vegas, had a classy response to Joshua’s shock defeat.
The Gypsy King tweeted: “We have our back and forths but Anthony Joshua changed his stars through life. Heavyweight boxing, these things happen, rest up, recover, regroup and come again.”
We have our back and Forth’s but @anthonyfjoshua changed his stars through life. heavyweight boxing, these things happen, rest up, recover, regroup and come again 👊🏼
— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) June 2, 2019
