A familiar red belt was placed in front of Tyson Fury at Wednesday’s press conference in Manchester, the IBF strap which he won, along with the WBO and WBO heavyweight championships, from Wladimir Klitschko last year. It was a surprise to see it with Fury though. The IBF now recognise Anthony Joshua as their heavyweight champion. That sanctioning body stripped their title from Fury when, once Wladimir Klitschko triggered their rematch clause, Tyson couldn’t defend the IBF belt against mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov. Then for the vacant belt Glazkov lost to Charles Martin, who in turn lost to Anthony Joshua earlier this month.
That feat however left Fury unimpressed. “I didn’t lose it did I?” Tyson said of Joshua’s title. “I’ve got it. Whatever other belt’s going around it’s a replica because I didn’t lose my belt.”
He added, “I’ve read a lot of s*** in the papers that Tyson didn’t want to fight his mandatory. Tyson couldn’t fight his mandatory. End of. Or else I’d have took that idiot out in one round, 30 seconds. So obviously I’ve still got my belt right here and it’s for everyone to see. And it’s mine, it’s original. [The other belt is] a knockoff, not real.”
Not that Fury wished to dwell on Joshua ahead of his rematch with Klitschko. When asked about Anthony, Tyson declined further comment saying, “Considering we’re not here to talk about someone else with a plastic belt, we’re not going to answer that question because it’s an insult really to mention someone like that.”
Fury was vague too about what he might do if on July 7, as many expect, he repeats his victory over Klitschko. “I’m already number one so regardless if I beat him I’ve already beat him,” Tyson said. “Where do I go from here? Look for some more big fights, take on whoever else is out there. There’s not much else I can do. I’ve already wiped out the man who nobody thought could get beat. I’ve already done the unthinkable. I’m just looking at these little prizes here [his belts]. I did do the job. There’s not much more I can do. I beat him and I can beat a few more bums and that’s it really. It’s boxing.”
