After the fight: Anthony Joshua has a chance against Tyson Fury

Anthony Joshua’s defeat of Kubrat Pulev has everybody looking at Tyson Fury as his ideal next opponent. Will it happen next? Who would win?

After heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua knocked out Kubrat Pulev, the attention turned towards Tyson Fury. Joshua vs. Fury is the fight that everybody wants but will likely not get next.

That last line will probably anger many boxing fans, but don’t get your hopes up that Joshua vs. Fury is on tap. Several factors are preventing that dream fight from happening.

The obvious obstacle is Oleksandr Usyk. Usyk is Joshua’s mandatory challenger for his WBO belt. Matchroom could pay Usyk money to step aside for a Joshua vs. Fury unification bout, but there’s no guarantee that Usyk would accept.

If Joshua loses to Fury, then the WBO title is gone, and any deal Usyk makes with Joshua is null and void. Fury, Bob Arum, and Frank Warren would have to be involved in any deal negotiated with Usyk to allow a heavyweight unification match to occur. Getting multiple promoters to sit down and agree to anything is incredibly difficult.

Joshua could vacate the WBO title, but then a Joshua vs. Fury contest wouldn’t technically be for undisputed status. Belts are silly in the first place, and the loss of the WBO belt wouldn’t mean anything to me and many others, but it might matter to Joshua. If he’s chasing history, then that one belt might make a difference to him and how he thinks of his legacy.

In some ways, a Joshua vs. Usyk matchup wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Ever since Fury rejected a Deontay Wilder trilogy fight because the contract expired and nobody is sure what’s going on with Wilder, he’s been planning to make a return in 2021. He says he wants Joshua next, but who will he fight if that’s not an option?

Fury hasn’t been in the ring since his February TKO of Wilder. He needs to stay active, so a tune-up fight makes sense if Joshua is tied up with Usyk.

Timing is the other factor that comes into play. There were 1,000 fans in attendance for Joshua vs. Pulev. That was the first bout featuring a live audience for Matchroom in the U.K. since the onset of the pandemic.

Joshua vs. Fury is the biggest fight that could be made, and a large, live audience is presumably required to make sure that it’s financially feasible. Many have had to take a pay cut during the pandemic, but promoters and the fighters aren’t going to want to miss out on a live gate for the biggest heavyweight contest in the last several decades.

The U.S. and the U.K both approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for public distribution. It will take months before vaccines are available to the general public, but Dr. Fauci predicts that the U.S. could achieve herd immunity by summer. If that’s true and the U.K. sees similar results, maybe a megafight with normal fan attendance could happen in late summer or fall.

It’s fair to make Tyson Fury the favorite in a hypothetical matchup with Anthony Joshua, but Joshua has the ability to beat Fury

Joshua vs. Fury in front of a sizeable audience around August or September could be realistic. That fight taking place in May in front of a limited audience is more fantasy than reality.

Fans need to think more with their minds instead of their hearts on this one. Joshua vs. Usyk is more likely to be staged in front of 1,000 fans than Joshua vs. Fury from a business standpoint.

Assuming that Joshua vs. Fury gets made for late summer or fall, who wins?

Many pundits and fans gave their opinions on social media, and Fury seems to be the early favorite. That makes sense, but to say that Joshua doesn’t have a fair chance is asinine.

People have short memories and make decisions based on the here and now. In most people’s minds, the last image of Fury is of him bashing Wilder for seven rounds. In the fight before, he narrowly beat the count of 10 in a draw to Wilder.

Fury’s win over Wilder is still fresh, and so is Joshua’s shocking loss to Andy Ruiz in 2019. His knockout of Pulev fades that image, but not enough to make people forget what happened in New York.

Fury has never lost, but he has been hurt. He’s human, and Fury acknowledges that. Joshua shouldn’t be judged on one performance. Against Pulev, Joshua put it all together. He was patient, smart, and attacked when opportunities opened up. Joshua looked like a complete fighter.

Fury was able to charge through Wilder, but that strategy wouldn’t be wise against Joshua. Joshua’s technique is stronger than Wilder’s, which makes his punches much more accurate. Fury had an easy time avoiding Wilder’s best punches in February, and he had Wilder on his back foot.

Joshua is willing to give up ground, but if Fury rushes Joshua, he’s going to eat many more punches than he did against Wilder.

Just compare the CompuBox stats between Fury and Joshua in their last fights. Against Wilder, Fury landed 30.7 percent of his total punches and 36.3 percent of his power punches. Against Pulev, Joshua landed 37.4 percent of his total punches and 41.7 percent of his power punches.

That comparison doesn’t mean that Joshua is more accurate than Fury, but it shows that Joshua is on Fury’s level when fighting top tier heavyweights. Fury has a way of making fights ugly and making opponents miss, but Joshua’s technique and athleticism are better than any opponent Fury has ever faced.

Everything went right for Fury against Wilder, but those perfect nights are hard to reproduce, and Joshua is good enough to give Fury trouble. To me, it is a 60/40 fight in Fury’s favor, but another performance from each before they meet would give a clearer picture.

We live in a different world today than we did a year ago, and nothing is simple anymore. Fight matching between promotions has always been a pain, and a pandemic makes matters worse. Don’t throw in the towel on Joshua vs. Fury, but be patient a little longer if you want this dream fight to turn into a reality.