Former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua 28-3 (25) has tipped who he thinks will win the upcoming undisputed heavyweight championship fight between Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) and Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14).
Britain’s Fury, 35, will put his WBC belt on the line against 37-year-old Ukrainian southpaw Usyk, who will stake his WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine title of the fight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 18.
Joshua, who is planning to return to the ring in September, has a vested interest in the result. The 34-year-old Brit, who lost back-to-back points decisions to Usyk in 2021 and 2022 but is yet to face Fury, wants to become a three-time world heavyweight champion.
“Well look, I’ve fought Oleksandr Usyk so I can go only speak on what I have experienced from him,” Joshua told talkSPORT when asked how he sees the fight playing out.
“Phenomenal fighter, does everything to a tee and I would say he is going to do a really good job.
“I have never fought Tyson Fury so I can’t really speak on how he will perform or what it is like to face him so only speaking on what I know I would have to say Oleksandr Usyk will be victorious.”
Retired former WBO cruiserweight champion turned pundit Johnny Nelson believes Fury is at a disadvantage in this fight as his usual pre-fight mind games are having no apparent effect on the unflappable Usyk.
“Tyson Fury, what he does, he plays the fool to catch the wise like he did with Wladimir Klitschko. Klitschko disrespected him, undermined him, thought he was an idiot, a clown,” Nelson wrote in a column for Sky Sports.
“He gets in their face, he bullies them, he abuses them so they get angry and so they aren’t using their brain. Or he’ll try the pal effect, he’ll pal them up as if he’s his mate and then knock them out.
“We saw it when he boxed Dillian Whyte, Dillian was full of fire and intention, and then they laughed and joked and had a dance, that wasn’t the Dillian Whyte that likes the smoke.
“With Usyk the problem is it’s being lost in translation, so Tyson is finding it very hard to intimidate Oleksandr Usyk. When they met face to face he tried to use physicality and Usyk, good on him, was cool and didn’t give it back.
“Even if Usyk could understand him, he’s playing ignorant as though he can’t, and to me that is rattling Tyson because he needs an edge. He needs to get the edge over an opponent and that’s what has worked all throughout his career, he’s brilliant at it.”
The Fury versus Usyk fight will be broadcast live on DAZN pay-per-view.