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Fans could see the long-awaited all-British heavyweight clash between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury next, even if the two fighters lose their next matches. The chances of one or both losing their next fights are high, especially in Fury’s case.
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh is interested in making the Joshua-Fury fight, and he doesn’t care if Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) loses to IBF champion Daniel Dubois on September 21st and if Fury gets beaten in his rematch against WBA, WBC and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk on December 21st.
Turki wants the Joshua-Fury fight, and he states that the world also wants to see it. As such, Turki plans to offer the fight to the 36-year-old Fury and Joshua after their next fights. He’s not sure if they’ll accept. The UK wants to see Joshua-Fury, but I wouldn’t include the world. They view those guys as aging, pampered, flawed fighters with shaky resumes.
The Pride Factor
There’s pride involved with AJ and Fury, as neither would feel comfortable walking away from defeats to meet in a money fight. It would destroy the two Brits mentally if they walked away from crushing defeats to Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) and Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs).
In Fury’s case, he might retire if he loses the rematch with Usyk, especially if he’s knocked out because it would be his second consecutive loss and a clear sign that he’s got his number.
With Joshua, he would insist on a rematch with the 26-year-old Dubois because he would feel that he turned things around with the right game plan and perhaps a new coach that’s not just blowing smoke up his tailpipe. He would need to dump his coaches and start over because sticking with his current crew would be pointless.
If Dubois knocks out Joshua on September 21st, he’d likely do the same thing to him in a rematch due to his youth and rugged nature.
“If Usyk wins [rematch with Fury on December 21st], I still want to see Joshua against Tyson if they accept,” said Turki Alalshikh to the talksport Boxing YouTube channel about wanting to make the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua mega-fight, even if one or both lose their preliminary clashes against Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois.
The Reality Check
Turki says that it sounds good, but Joshua and Fury will never accept a fight if they come off losses. Again, they have too much pride and wouldn’t be able to live with themselves if they back into their mega-fight coming off defeats.
“I will not try to do the third [Fury-Usyk] fight before having Tyson and Joshua,” Turki continued.
“As a fan, I think it [Joshua-Dubois on September 21st] will be a tough fight, but I think Joshua will win. You don’t know. This is boxing, especially heavyweights, but I want to see Joshua and Tyson, and the world wants to see Joshua and Tyson.
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