WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury thinks he has the power edge in a prospective fight against Anthony Joshua, despite not really having a stand-and-trade style. As Fury and Joshua have tentatively agreed to face off next year (assuming they both get through their interim fights), Fury takes confidence from just having knocked out Deontay Wilder, who had a reputation as one of the biggest punchers in history.
“The actual fact of the matter is, I’ve never really been a stand-still man who lands big shots because I’m a slick boxer,” Fury said in a YouTube interview. “But as we see, I just knocked out the heaviest puncher in boxing history. Andy Ruiz is not a big puncher but he knocked out Anthony Joshua. So, yeah, I’d say I am a harder puncher than him. There’s people who have sparred both of us and quite a few people have said it as well, I’m a bigger puncher.”
Fury continued by saying that despite believing he’s the bigger hitter, he knows boxing comes down to skill, and his experience and craft are superior to his British counterpart. And as far as his mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte is concerned, he’s just another lowly fighter looking for a big check, something Fury doesn’t feel he needs to be bothered with.
“Dillian Whyte is looking for a payday against me. Pulev’s looking for a payday. All these slight challengers and mandatories and that, they’re like unknown names. They’re not sellable, especially in America.
“The last few fights I’ve got left, whether I got 10 fights left, or 3, or 2... I want the biggest possible fights...but it won’t be a belt or an organization or anybody dictating to Tyson Fury. Because let’s face it, nobody’s ever dictated to the champ...These low-profile fighters, they don’t mean anything to me. I’m after the biggest, best fights that are available. So whatever it takes to do that, I’ll do it. I’m a proud WBC champion, but at the end of the day I’m the lineal heavyweight champion of the world, which trumps everything.”
Whyte, of course, is well aware that Fury and his team (and really the WBC itself) aren’t in any clamor to make way for his title shot, so he’s since taken steps of his own to safeguard his opportunity.