Former two-time world champion Shawn Porter has offered his expert opinion on Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua’s expected encounter later this year.
The two heavyweights are set to finally square off, but only if ‘AJ’ comes through his warm-up fight against Kristian Prenga in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on July 25.
This represents his first outing since scoring a sixth-round finish over Jake Paul in December, which followed his fifth-round stoppage defeat to Daniel Dubois in September 2024.
After his triumph over Paul, though, the 36-year-old was involved in a tragic car crash that took the lives of his two close friends.
Following that news, Joshua’s career suddenly seemed in serious doubt, yet he is now gearing up to enter the ring ahead of his long-awaited domestic dustup with Fury.
‘The Gypsy King’ returned to action last month, unanimously outpointing Arslanbek Makhmudov in his first fight since suffering a second points defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in December 2024.
But despite Fury’s lack of activity, Porter has told Froch On Fighting that he believes the 36-year-old is still fast and mentally-sharp enough to defeat his British rival.
“I think that Tyson’s fast enough; he’s still a good-enough boxer. I think he beats Anthony Joshua.
“Anthony has never been the fundamentally-sound boxer that Tyson Fury has been. [He’s] a really good straight-up-and-down-one-two fighter that can hit you, and hit you hard.
“But the thing we’ve seen from him, especially recently, is, if he’s not tapped in mentally, he kind of falls apart as the fight goes on.
“Should Anthony [enter the Fury fight] really tapped in and ready to go, then I think it’s a great 12-round war.”
While the opponent, on paper, is well beneath his level, Joshua’s next outing should offer an indication as to what sort of state he is in, both mentally and physically.
