“If I put Fury on his arse, I wouldn’t let him get up… Me and Fury are completely different beasts. Genetically, strength, mindset. I was boxing Fury up in the amateurs when he used to come down Finchley. I’ve always been on a different trajectory to Fury. He’s done well, of course, he’s done very well. But give me an opportunity to fight Fury and I’ll show you what I’m about,” Joshua said 

Fury has shown that he is susceptible to being dropped in his recent fights. The trilogy with Deontay Wilder showed that as The Bronze Bomber put Fury on the canvas several times. This was then shown in the Francis Ngannou fight. Despite Ngannou making his boxing debut, he troubled the Gypsy King with his power.

A huge left hook sent Fury crashing to the floor. And yet, in all of those fights, Fury got off the canvas to secure a victory. At the same time, Joshua has shown that he can be dropped. Andy Ruiz Jr. stopped him on Joshua’s American debut, a fighter who was much smaller than Fury.

In addition, Wladimir Klitschko had shown he could drop Joshua, who was much older than Fury. However, those fights must be taken with a pinch of salt. Joshua and Fury are now different fighters than they were in those days. But based on what Joshua had seen of Fury in the Ngannou fight, he was not impressed, feeling the former UFC Heavyweight Champion had been victorious.

Fury vs Ngannou

“I was watching the Fury and Ngannou fight from home and from what I saw I thought he won. It’s not a gimmick, it’s not something that’s benefiting the broadcasters, it’s not just a fight for entertainment purposes. “This is a serious fight with someone who is prepared and understands the dynamic of boxing and he’s putting up a good fight against the apparently generational great. So, I look at it now as something completely different,” Joshua added

One thing Joshua cannot afford to do is overlook Ngannou. Fury almost made that mistake, securing a split-decision victory which could have gone another way on a different day. Based on Joshua’s current mindset, his only focus is Ngannou. 

“In terms of the word ‘gimmick’ we can get rid of that. In terms of the whole crossover aspect of what boxing is, it’s not that Ngannou was a gimmick or Fury was a gimmick, but the whole MMA crossing over into boxing I looked at it as a gimmick, but now I can see that there are certain fighters in the MMA world that can box, and he’s one of them,” Joshua stated 

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