Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have a combined age of 74, but according to Jeremy Cross, Chief Sports Writer, they lack the combined wit and wisdom that should accompany those years to stop attempting to fool the British public.
Fury, 38, claims to be looking for a new opponent after insisting Joshua wants to back out of their fight scheduled for November. For reasons known only to Fury, he has called out Oleksandr Usyk, a fighter who has beaten him twice and never lost a professional bout.
Venue dispute delays announcement
Fury and Joshua have signed individual contracts for an all-British showdown. However, the issue of where it takes place has delayed an official announcement, with organisers pushing to stage it in the United States rather than Wembley Stadium.
Common sense would suggest London as the perfect venue, but the sport has a reputation more dishonest and dirty than the Post Office, so common sense does not come into the equation.
Fury's social media claims
Fury is doing his best to keep both himself and Joshua relevant. In an expletive-laden video posted on social media, Fury claimed Joshua was backing out of the fight.
He said: "This will only lead me to a fight with Oleksandr Usyk. Oleksandr you're his [Joshua's] trainer and his sensei, and you know he is weak minded, and that he would never fight the 'Gypsy King', which you have had the guts to do twice."
Time catches up with both fighters
Both have lost the most impossible fight of all: the one against time. Fury's announcements can now be timed with precision, whether he says the fight is off or that he has retired again. It helps sell tickets, boosts pay-per-view numbers, and keeps the duo in the spotlight, smacking of a desperate need for attention.
Joshua starred in his own social media video last month, performing dangerous stunts on a moving golf buggy, just eight months after surviving a fatal car crash in Nigeria that killed his close friends and trainers, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele.
Five years have passed since Joshua was last world heavyweight champion, while Fury last ruled the world in 2024. In the intervening years, both have become predictable parodies, and no one wants to pay big money to see a freak show between two such men.
