Anthony Joshua manufacturers Tyson Fury an ‘fool’ who’s ‘disrespecting sport’ in rant

Anthony Joshua labelled Tyson Fury an ‘idiot’ and claimed he’s ‘disrespecting the sport’ as he launched into his British rival.

‘AJ’ will get a chance to become a three-time world champion when he faces Daniel Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title on September 21 at Wembley.

But Joshua, 34, is still eyeing up a showdown with Fury to settle their long-running feud next year after multiple failed attempts to get a fight on.

READ MORE: Anthony Joshua threatens to hit Daniel Dubois with chair as tempers flare in face off

Fury, 35, is set to face Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch on December 21 after he suffered his first career defeat against the Ukrainian last month.

But Joshua hit out at Fury for how he acted in the build-up to that fight. He said: “I’m glad Fury isn’t the undisputed champion. I just think he’s an idiot.

“If it was someone else I might think it was a shame

“I’ve always said he’s an idiot, he’s very disrespectful. Not in a way I care but I just feel like he thinks by stepping on other people that makes him feel better.

“I’m not in no competition with noone. I’m in my own lane but he has to step on people to make himself feel good and that’s not good.

“The way he disrespected Usyk, ‘rabbit’ this and ‘middleweight’ that. it’s not good for the sport.

“If I respect you and you respect me we can lift this sport up and people think we are two of the most elite fighters in the world.

“But Fury will step on you and make you look like a guy who’s just walked out and a pub and he’s not on your level. Then he goes and gets spanked, he deserves it.”

WBA, WBO and WBC title holder Usyk has given up the IBF belt to allow Dubois to become champion and defend against Joshua.

Fury could still take three belts from Usyk later this year and if Joshua was to beat Dubois in his first Wembley Stadium fight since 2018 then a 2025 showdown could be for the undisputed crown.

But the Watford man is not concerned about whether or not Fury has the belts as long as he gets to face his rival.

“I don’t mind anymore whether he wins or loses,” Joshua said. “I just want to fight him, it’s been dragging on.

“Fury ducks a lot of people, he doesn’t fight many people, many top-tier people. He needs to get on with it and come and fight me and stop wasting my time. I don’t want to wait until I’m 40, 41, 42 to fight him.

“He’s put himself in a position to make his own decisions. In terms of the fans, I know what they want. We tried to make the fight happen, it was signed and then it fell apart.

“Hopefully after this we can get it on, finally.”

The undercard for the September 21 showdown includes Joshua Buatsi against Willy Hutchinson for the interim WBO light-heavyweight title and European middleweight champion Tyler Denny against Hamzah Sheeraz.

Belfast’s IBF super-featherweight champion Anto Cacace against Josh Warrington on a stacked card with former WBO light-middleweight champion Liam Smith facing Josh Kelly.

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