Anthony Joshua: Tyson Fury exposed Deontay Wilder, took away his only weapon

Anthony Joshua, who currently holds the WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles, watched like everyone did back in February when Tyson Fury dominated Deontay Wilder in their rematch, winning the WBC title and holding on to his LINEAL!!!!!!!!!!! claim.

Joshua (23-1, 21 KO) had a lot of public discussion a couple years back about potentially fighting Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KO) himself, but the two sides could never make a deal. It was Fury, in fact, who came in as the curveball against Wilder in late 2018, ending those discussions for the time being.

Joshua says he wasn’t really surprised by what happened in February, feeling that Wilder has always just had one weapon, and that sooner or later it wouldn’t be enough at the elite level.

“I believed Tyson Fury could potentially do what he done. I feel like Deontay Wilder is a formidable ex-champion and has a chance to come back, but I just knew that when he gets to the top level, it would be difficult,” Joshua told Sky Sports.

“It’s one thing getting there and it’s another thing staying there. We’ve seen in some of his fights it’s been difficult for him, and then he lands his punch and is victorious. But I always believed that when you go to war, you can’t have one weapon in your arsenal, which was his right hand.

“Once that was taken away from him, which Tyson Fury did — I won’t go into tactics, but he was able to annihilate Deontay Wilder and expose him for some of his weaknesses. Tyson Fury done a great job tactically, and I’m looking forward to the rematch.”

Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO) and Wilder are (very) tentatively slated to meet for a third time on Oct. 3, but like everything in boxing, that’s up in the air, other than Wilder has exercised his contractual right to a third bout with Fury. The when and where are the mysteries.

As for Joshua, his June 20 date against IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev has been postponed, with no new date set.