Tyson Fury says Age Caught up to Anthony Joshua on Saturday night at IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois in London. Fury feels that the 35-year-old Joshua (28-4, 23 KOs) went up against a much younger fighter, the 27-year-old Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), who can punch.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had done an excellent job of hiding AJ’s age by pitting him against beatable opposition in his last four fights after he had been beaten twice in a row by Oleksandr Usyk. Hearn finally met Joshua with a talented fighter who could explain his age, and we saw the result tonight.
Fury initially brushed off the loss to Joshua, saying it could happen to anyone in the heavyweight division, which is true. However, as he spoke further, he admitted that Joshua’s age played a factor.
It’s not something the 36-year-old Fury likes to talk about because he’s had the same problems. He lost his last fight to Usyk on May 18 and looked like a shell of his old self in that contest.
There is an excellent chance Fury will lose the rematch on December 21 and face the same retirement questions as Joshua.
There is not much Joshua and his promoter Hearn can do for his old man because there is no fountain of youth that he can drink from to make him young again. The only option is to avoid dangerous guys like Dubois and focus on fighting weaker punchers who can’t replicate what we saw tonight.
“It’s heavy boxing. (Things) happen. You get a spark. It could be me. In the heavyweight division, that’s what happens,” said Tyson Fury at the mediareacts to Anthony Joshua’s loss to Daniel Dubois on Saturday night.
Fury came close to being knocked out in his last fight against Usyk and probably would have if the referee didn’t save him in the ninth round by giving him an eight count.
“What went wrong is what always happens in heavyweight boxing. A good right hand on the end of the chin, and that was it. I don’t know. It’s up to the man and what he wants to do. If he has good ambitions to come back, he can make his own decisions.
“I think it was a 50-50 fight. Dubois is much younger. He is 27 years old. Joshua is 35 years old, the same age as me. Age waits for no one. I hit you with those punches. You don’t see not that many heavyweights get hit, knocked down, bounce back, and keep going,” Fury said of Joshua.
AJ came back from the first three falls, but it was more a case of them happening late in the rounds. In the final bout in the fifth, Joshua could not fight back because he was counted out, and his trainer, Ben Davison, had entered the ring while the referee was still counting.
“I’m going to fight my man, the rabbit,” Fury said of his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk on December 21. “I’m going to take all my belts back one more time.”
It doesn’t seem realistic that Fury will win his rematch with Usyk. There’s a good chance that Usyk will destroy Fury by following up on what he created from his last fight by unloading on him with a barrage of punches. If Usyk follows the same plan from the ninth round, he will knock out Fury.
Guaranteed. After I fought Usyk in December and got beat, I brought back all the belts I had never lost. So I’ll fight Dubois and take him out too. That’s my plan.”
Fury should not worry too much because His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has already said that he can still fight Joshua, even if he loses his next fight against Usyk. It’s a load off. If Fury loses, he can come up with a good excuse to tell the fans to explain the loss, and they will still want to see AJ fight next.
