‘It’s either him or I’m out,’ Fury said of his British heavyweight rival after outclassing Arslanbek Makhmudov
J
ust before midnight on Saturday, an hour after the first victory of his latest comeback, Tyson Fury paused in the midst of a familiar monologue about a predictable subject. He had just outclassed Arslanbek Makhmudov, the tough but limited Russian heavyweight, over 12 one-sided rounds. But Fury wanted to talk only about Anthony Joshua and whether or not he and his old British rival would ever fight each other.
In the lavish depths of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Fury sounded perplexed: “Ten years in the making and still, after all this time, there’s uncertainty if this fight’s gonna happen next. I’ve no idea. I hope so but you can’t force someone to do something.”
Joshua had been ringside, using his phone to video Fury’s often tedious domination of Makhmudov. But after the last bell he resisted the invitation to bang the drum for a showdown which has been hyped, delayed, postponed, cancelled and hyped all over again more times than many of us care to remember. Fury had called him out, live on Netflix, and Joshua stared back silently. When he was handed a microphone, Joshua’s response was lost in the embarrassment of a technical hitch which meant no one could hear him.
