TYSON FURY insists rival Anthony Joshua hasn’t fought a heavyweight in his prime as tensions continue to rise between the two Brits.
AJ has met several big names in the ring during his illustrious career but the Gypsy King doesn’t believe any of them were in tip top shape.
Speaking to Manchester United icon Gary Neville on The Overlap YouTube channel, Fury, 33, discussed the prospect of a fight with Joshua, 31.
He said: “I do think that the best boxers do fight each other eventually, but it’s not gonna happen when everyone calls for it.
“It only happens when, say, one boxer’s on the slide and one’s in his prime. Then you get them wanting to fight each other.
“But you very rarely get two prime fighters fight each other. Because one of them is always a bit wary that they’re gonna lose.”
Boxing fans are desperate to see Fury and Joshua face each other in a massive heavyweight clash for the undisputed world title next year.
But Fury will need to overcome American Deontay Wilder in their trilogy fight on October 9 before he can begin planning for Joshua.
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And AJ must defend his belts against undefeated and undisputed former cruiserweight champ Oleksandr Usyk on September 25.
Fury then questioned Joshua’s boxing CV, adding: “Anthony Joshua’s fought not one heavyweight in his prime.
“They’re all former good men, back in the early 2000s, late 2000s, but not in 2020-odd. They were good men 10 years ago.”
AJ has defeated several big names during his career, including Dillian Whyte, Joseph Parker, Andy Ruiz Jr and Wladimir Klitschko.
But the latter, then 41, was already on the decline when he faced Joshua after Fury ended his long reign as world champ two years earlier.
The Gypsy King also boasts a win against Deontay Wilder, widely regarded as one of the top three fighters in the heavyweight division.
Fury is also concerned a fight between him and Joshua will never happen, even though AJ has called his British rival out on numerous occasions.
Fury added: “I was never optimistic about AJ happening. This was always going on in the background and they knew all that.
“Eddie Hearn knew it, Joshua knew it – they all knew it. All of a sudden, it’s my fault because I’m a s***house, please.
“I don’t think the fight will happen. We’ve been trying to do this fight since we were 22 years old and I’m now 33.”
