In December, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are scheduled for their long-awaited grudge match, and British boxing icon Amir Khan has updated his prediction for the clash.
Fury and Joshua have been linked to one another for almost a decade but, after years of back-and-forth, the chances of finally witnessing their meeting became very real in the summer – as ‘The Gypsy King’ named Joshua as his main target upon his comeback to the sport.
After witnessing Fury’s call-out, Khan admitted that he favours the 38-year-old to come out on top, but also stated that he wanted to see how ‘AJ’ looked in his ring return, which turned out to be against Kristian Prenga.
The Albanian floored Joshua twice in a shocking opening round back in July, before ‘AJ’ bounced back to spare his blushes and halt Prenga in the second.
Now, Khan has updated his prediction whilst speaking to Boyle Sports, once again leaning towards Fury, and advising Joshua to be careful in the contest and to look to utilise his amateur boxing IQ.
“My take is that when you’re fighting someone who can bang, you’re going to be on edge and ready for it. The guy who put AJ down in his last fight was not meant to put him down, but he caught him with a shot and shocked him. AJ knows he’s going into this fight with Fury and knows Fury can bang and can hurt him, so he’s going to be so careful.
“He’s going to have to bring that old boxing IQ from the Olympics back, where he’s smart, in and out and not getting hit with shots.
“Fury, on the other hand, knows he can get hurt as well. He’s been down before in boxing and he knows AJ is probably one of the hardest hitters who will hit him in the heavyweight division. AJ has still got the speed and he’s still got a bit of youth under him.
“It comes down to how much they both want it. That’s what makes it an exciting fight. To me, it’s a 50-50 fight now. We’ve seen them both win and lose. Maybe Fury has a little bit more left in him, but AJ is still a fighter.”
Khan had been touted to appear on the Fury-Joshua undercard against Manny Pacquiao, but the Bolton fan-favourite has since ruled himself out.
