Tyson Fury is expected to weigh 280lb for his all-British showdown with Anthony Joshua, a decision that has proved costly in the past.
Fury and Joshua will meet on December 11 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, finally settling their decade-long rivalry. Fury enters the contest after forcing Mariusz Wach to quit on his stool in July, while Joshua survived two knockdowns to stop Kristian Prenga.
Weight Increase Planned
Before stopping Wach in Thailand, Fury officially weighed 265lb. For his meeting with Joshua, the 38-year-old expects to tip the scales heavier. In a recent Instagram post, he wrote: "Big boy 280lbs incoming. Not your average build! However, the love handles are used for energy."
The planned weight is still 1lb shy of what he weighed for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk two years ago. Fury put on the pounds in an attempt to stop his opponent early but lost on points for a second time.
Past Criticism of the Tactic
Fury's decision to add weight drew criticism before, with former three-weight world champion Duke McKenzie questioning the approach for the Usyk rematch. The 63-year-old believed Fury would be slower and more predictable in the ring.
"He [Fury] doesn't live, eat, walk, talk the sport but you're supposed to," McKenzie told talkSPORT in 2024. "In-between fights is where fights are won and lost. We know Fury blows up, puts on a load of weight between fights and then he has got to get rid of all that weight again."
McKenzie added: "Now, they're trying to tell us that Fury is going to be bigger and better. Bigger and better isn't going to beat Usyk. It's really not. If he puts on more weight and thinks to himself 'I'm going to bully Usyk this time, I'm going to go in and walk him down, I'll be able to take his shots because I'm that much bigger', it's not going to work for him."
"He's going to be slower, he's going to be more predictable, he's going to get hit more and a lot sooner... Usyk wins the rematch all day long, I can't see how Tyson Fury beats him. He's not going to knock Usyk out. This guy is unbeaten, so you have to look for chinks in his armour. Has this guy got a bad engine? Does he get cut? Does he go down? Does he have to get up off the floor to win fights? Usyk doesn't have to do any of them, he's never shown a vulnerability."
Fury's decision to fight at 280lb against Joshua will now be tested when the pair meet in Cardiff.
