TYSON FURY and his promoter Frank Warren correctly predicted the outcome of Anthony Joshua’s fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
AJ was well-beaten on points by the Ukrainian at Tottenham’s stadium on Saturday and his bitter rival Fury saw it coming.
Joshua failed to make use of his 18lb advantage over former cruiserweight king Usyk who landed a barrage of heavy southpaw shots throughout the bout.
Usyk finished with a flourish in the final rounds to put the result beyond doubt and seal the unanimous 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113 win.
And Fury – who can apparently see into the future – said on Friday: “I expect AJ to come out trying to box a bit more because of this new way he boxes now and uses his jab.
“And he knows he doesn’t have the stamina to take a fight to somebody under sustained pressure, and keep that up, because he gasses after about three rounds.
“And then he needs to take three or four rounds off.
“So, he wouldn’t be able to do that against Usyk because Usyk will be on him all the time, making him fight.
JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET A FREE £10 BONUS WITH 100s OF GAMES TO PLAY AND NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED (Ts&Cs apply)
“So, I expect it to be awkward, maybe a bit of a chess match for a few rounds. And I expect AJ to run out of ideas, really.
“If he doesn’t land on him early and get him out of there with big punches, then I see it being a tough night for AJ and maybe even a stoppage loss.”
The judges’ scorecards revealed Joshua was actually leading after eight rounds before his nasty eye injury sparked a meltdown.
But Fury’s promoter Warren also saw an upset coming.
He said last week: “Anthony Joshua must be the favourite for the fight. He’s the bigger guy, much bigger, and he’s a big puncher.
“Having said that, if [Joshua] doesn’t get rid of him, and if he’s still there after five or six rounds, then if it gets to the end of the fight…
“If that goes 12 rounds, I would fancy Usyk to get the decision because to get there, he’s going to have to outbox him.
‘I’LL FIGHT WHOEVER’
“And he’s obviously a very smart operator, you know how he’s going to fight – he’s going to try and get inside and underneath AJ’s jab.
“If you can do that, you can give him a lot of problems. I hope he doesn’t though, because we want the big fight.”
Joshua has vowed to fight Fury still even without his heavyweight titles.
But Eddie Hearn has urged him to trigger his Usyk rematch clause immediately or risk NEVER getting the chance to win his belts back.
Immediately after his defeat, Joshua claimed: “The road to undisputed and all that stuff, it’s good.
“As I said, I’ll fight Fury, [Deontay] Wilder, without the belts.
“The belts are fun. It’s great, it’s legacy. But with or without the belts, I’ll fight whoever.
Joshua vs Usyk LIVE: Follow all the post-fight reaction
“The road to undisputed is a nice title to have and a nice title to chase.
“But would you still watch it, without the belts?
“That’s the main thing – is you’ve got two competitive fighters in the ring from UK soil, that just want to go toe-to-toe.”
FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN NEW CUSTOMER DEALS
