Tyson Fury Talks About Joshua Almost Knocking Him Out In Sparring

A clip from 2010 has re-emerged in which Tyson Fury talks about nearly being knocked out by the then relatively unknown amateur boxer Anthony Joshua.

Fury is expected to put his WBC heavyweight title on the line against unified champion Joshua in a highly anticipated, history-making, all-British undisputed fight in 2021.

In an interview with BBC Radio 5Live‘s Mike Costello and Steve Bunce back in 2010, Fury spoke about being caught off guard by Joshua in a recent sparring session, he said.

“I came up yesterday from Manchester and I went down to Finchley Boxing Club. I sparred with the ABA Champion, Anthony Joshua. He’s red hot him. He’s very good.

‘He’s very good. To be honest with you, I thought I’m only going to take it easy because he’s only an amateur and he probably won’t spar again if I go mad. He’s rushed out at me… BASH, he gave me a big upper cut right in the point of the chin. If I had a bit of a weak chin like David Price, I’d have been knocked out for a month.’

 ‘He’s very, very, very good. He’s only young, watch out for that name! Anthony Joshua. He is one prospect for the future. I’m a good prospect. I rate myself as one of the top heavyweights in the world. He came out at me for three rounds and he gave me a beating. 

‘I thought, “Oh my God, an amateur’s killing me!”. The kid’s only 20, and I’m a handful myself, but for him to put up a good performance like that against a top prospect in me, I think he’s one for the future. I would say he’s the best amateur boxer in this country, super heavyweight, by a mile.”

Who do you think wins when Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua finally fight?