Tyson Fury doesn’t believe he will ever fight Anthony Joshua as he expects him to lose again to a ‘little fat kid’ in Andy Ruiz Jr in their rematch later this year.
Joshua was knocked down four times en route to his seventh round defeat at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, losing his IBF, WBA (Super) and WBO heavyweight titles to the unfancied Ruiz.
Fury was initially sympathetic towards his heavyweight rival, tweeting in the aftermath of the fight: “These things happen. Rest up, recover, regroup and come again.”
Four days later, Fury described Joshua’s defeat as a ‘disgrace’, adding he would never show his face in public again if he had suffered such a loss.
And Fury has gone on the offensive again, backing Ruiz to beat the 2012 Olympian in a proposed rematch later this year and force Joshua out of the world title equation for good.
Asked in an interview with CNN if he thinks the Joshua fight will happen, he said: “Well if he loses again, like I think he will, then very slim. So, if a little fat kid can beat him then people are saying ‘Well anybody can beat him now’.”
Ruiz has been persistently derided for his unconventional physique, both before and after his astonishing title win – with ESPN personality Steven A Smith coming in for a particularly scathing backlash for his post-fight comments on the new champion’s weight.
Fury invited Ruiz to take such comments on the chin, however.
“I'm a fat kid. So join the club! I've just come down from 400 pounds. If I ain't fat I don't know what is.”
Fury fights for the first time since his extraordinary draw with Deontay Wilder last year against Tom Schwarz on Saturday 15 June.
“He’s just another man a pair of boxing gloves on, trying to do his job, trying to get a victory over Tyson Fury,” he said of the undefeated German.
“28 men have tried before him as a professional, and 28 men have failed. I don't approach this fight any different to any other fight I've ever had. Train hard, eat well, fight well.
"We can only do our best as human beings. There's not much we can do. If we bump into a better man on the night, then fair play, shake the guy's hand.”
