After Anthony Joshua defeated Francis Ngannou on Friday night, he called Tyson Fury’s audience “disrespectful.”
The heavyweight world champion watched from the stands in Riyadh as Joshua easily defeated Ngannou, the former UFC champion, in two convincing rounds.
Before the decisive finale, Ngannou was badly dropped twice, raising hopes for a possible meeting between the two British rivals. In an uncontested championship battle scheduled for May, Fury will take on Oleksandr Usyk, who has defeated Joshua twice before. However, following his most recent victory, Joshua reaffirmed his intention to confront the victor.
However, Fury’s remarks in which he called both Joshua and Ngannou “sausages” also annoyed him, particularly in light of how closely Fury was pushed by the unproven Cameroonian boxer back in October.
“F**k Tyson Fury,” Joshua told iFL TV after the fight.
“I don’t like trashtalking people but I heard him say something like, ‘Oh, I’m here to do commentary about these two sausages’, or something like that. Bro, that guy that I fought, that he fought, is an ex-UFC heavyweight champion, a phenomenal story, someone who’s changed his life around. He’s just too disrespectful. So forget anything about him right now.”
"F*CK TYSON FURY"
Anthony Joshua hits out at @Tyson_Fury after the WBC champ labelled AJ and Ngannou as "sausages" 🍿
Watch the full interview HERE 🔗 https://t.co/OfhCmclnX0#JoshuaNgannou | #KnockoutChaos | #TysonFury pic.twitter.com/OFWxfAWc4G
— IFL TV (@IFLTV) March 9, 2024
In the ring after his impressive win, Joshua appeared to fire an imaginary gun in the direction of Fury.
“I just want to fight – yes it is [the winner of Fury v Usyk],” Joshua said. “It is what it is. What I was saying, en route to the championship, you should stay focused. I stepped aside from the mission, I thought it was for the broadcasters for entertainment.
“But I saw him against Fury and thought ‘damn, he can fight’. We welcomed him, he’s a great champion. It doesn’t take away from his capability. He can come again, I told him he can stay in boxing. It’s up to him. The Ben Davison performance centre [is the reason for my improvement]. I’m hungry, stay hungry and all that good stuff.
“I don’t know [if I’m coming into my peak], it only takes one shot, if that was me, you’d be saying, ‘Joshua should retire’. I don’t know if I’m in my peak, I’m pushing day by day, who knows where it will take me? In five years I won’t be fighting no more, this will be a distant memory.”
Fury, though, warned there was “a long way to go” to make any potential British superfight happen with Joshua.
“There’s quite a long way to go, there’s always been a lot of s*** getting in the way of it,” Fury said. “I’ve got bigger fish to fry, 18 May, then we have a rematch in October. After that, if he’s still available and I’m available, let’s get it on.
“Yes, it goes both ways, he can do what he wants, whoever he fights, he can’t wait a year, inactivity is no good. After I beat Usyk, the IBF will be vacant, so maybe he can fight Hrgovic. I’m healing well, I’m not even in camp yet, I’ll go to camp at the end of March and I’ll spar then.”
