TYSON FURY teased Anthony Joshua that even beating him to the undisputed crown will NOT make him the best of their generation.
WBC champ Fury is undefeated in 31 fights and dethroned the legendary Wladimir Klitschko in his adopted Germany home in 2015 to end his 11-year undefeated streak.
AJ faced the icon three years later at Wembley and had to get off the canvas to stop the veteran in brilliant style.
A doping ban and mental health breakdown robbed Fury of three prime years of his career after that sublime points win.
But he was able to bounce back and get a harsh 2018 draw and a sensational KO 2020 win over Deontay Wilder – after Joshua had wasted 18 months chasing the Bronze Bomber and failing to land that fight.
AJ’s record is littered with impressive scalps like Alexander Povetkin, Dillian Whyte and Joseph Parker but he has the solitary defeat, to Andy Ruiz Jr, that Fury has avoided.
The pair are now set to settle their differences with a Saudi Arabia clash this summer but Fury, 32, says his 31-year-old nemesis will not be the main man – even with a seismic win.
Fury told Behind the Gloves: “When I win I am the best of this era because I beat everyone in it. Klitschko, Wilder and AJ.
“If AJ wins he will still not have beaten anybody. He has to beat me and Wilder.
“I don’t think he can beat Deontay Wilder, I have no love for Wilder, I think he is a piece of s*** dosser but I am the only man who can beat him.
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“I am not a betting man but I would put a lot of money on Wilder beating all the others, including Joshua.”
To help make the biggest fight in British boxing history – potentially worth around £200million – AJ has taken the unusual step to prod and poke Fury in interviews and on social media.
The WBA, IBF and WBO boss even told the 6ft 9in ace to join his 258 management stable to finally become a mainstream star.
But Fury insists his bamboozling of Klitschko – and the three-year depression-riddled hiatus that followed – is the butterfly effect moment that let Joshua become one of the biggest stars in Britain.
He said: “I don’t know if AJ has ever helped me. I have helped him become a superstar.
“He only has his career because of me. I took Klitschko’s belts off him then had my problems and the other guys picked them up.
“Charles Martin would never have had a world title for AJ to win off of him without me.
“I destroyed Klitschko, mentally, physically and spiritually and took every belt he had.
“Then they were all taken off of me and other people picked them up. I helped them all become world champions.”
The Covid-19 delay to the fight means July is expected to be the date but Fury is surprisingly open to getting the two-fight rivalry started a month earlier.
The Gypsy King claims he only needs two months to train specifically for AJ and dismisses the improvements most Joshua fans think they have seen since his shock loss to Ruiz Jr.
He said: “I only need to train for eight weeks for a camp and I can do the press trip in one week.
“He is in shape all year round, look at the body on him. We only need eight weeks of training.
“If the fight is the end of June then we are both ready and the second is November or December.
“Joshua has improved, he brought the movement in against Ruiz in the rematch but I am not sure if he has improved.”
