Former heavyweight world champion Roy Jones Jr has predicted how a showdown between British rivals Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury may play out amid talk of their long-awaited meeting.
Joshua and Fury have been linked to a clash with one another for a number of years, but negotiations have often seemed too complicated, with promotional rivalries and egos getting in the way of the biggest fight in British boxing history.
However, the duo now seem more likely than ever to finally collide, with a two-fight plan mapped out for ‘AJ’, who seeks to return to action in July before his clash with ‘The Gypsy King’ in November.
Speaking to Grosvenor Casinos, boxing legend Jones stated that he believes Fury will raise his game in that scrap, whilst fearing that Joshua may not be ‘mentally ready’ for a fight of such magnitude, following his tragic car crash in Nigeria.
“Fury is going to fight to the level of his competition. You give him a really good fighter, he’ll fight really good. You give him a fighter that ain’t that good, he’s going to fight not that good. So I think Fury was a victim of performing at the status of his opponent. If his opponent ain’t that good, he ain’t going to be that good. If his opponent is great, he can be great.
“He’s not gonna perform like that against AJ, I promise you. But we also have to figure out where AJ is mentally. Does he even still have what it takes to get up and go to training every day? Does he want to go through another situation where that much pressure’s on the line?
“After losing close friends like that, sometimes you get to where you don’t really want to experience anything like that again. So it’s like, do you want to experience possible defeat? Do you really want to go through that right now, when you don’t have to? I don’t know if he’s really mentally ready to do that.”
Joshua is currently on the hunt for a July dance partner, but he may not need to look too far, having been sat at ringside for a fight involving the apparent frontrunner for his opposing corner in three months’ time.
