Fury vs Joshua in focus: how they match up ahead of potential 2021 superfight

It looks increasingly likely that a Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua blockbuster will finally become reality this summer, with all sorts of positive noises coming out of both camps.

Promoters Bob Arum and Eddie Hearn say the bout is almost certain to take place in late May or early June, very likely outside the UK.

The pair are set to earn around $100million each for the biggest fight in British boxing history - with potential pay-per-view revenues set to go through the roof.

All the world heavyweight titles currently reside on these shores, and the winner will likely be crowned the first undisputed heavyweight king since Lennox Lewis back in 1999.

So as the excitement starts to really build, what better time for furyjoshua.com to break down the contest and look at how these two elite giants match up.

Size

Joshua is a muscle-packed 6ft 6ins and would be a match for any heavyweight in any era due to his sheer physicality. He bulked up in his first five years as a professional, and this drew some criticism from pundits who at various times suggested he had become ‘too big’ or ‘too heavy’.

Fury famously used to goad his biggest rival in interviews, referring to him as ‘The Bodybuilder’. Yet AJ was 240lbs (17st 2lbs) against Kubrat Pulev last time out and looked pretty mobile. It would certainly be interesting to see whether he opts for speed or size when fine-tuning his training plan once a Fury date is confirmed.

Tyson meanwhile is 6ft 9ins and actually has a longer reach than his British rival. Just as importantly, Fury uses his physical attributes to better effect. He was 273lbs for the Deontay Wilder rematch last February and was very aggressive there, shocking many respected boxing observers with his approach. He also moves with great intelligence given his size.

Fury is awkwardly effective, both offensively and defensively, whether leaning on opponents and sapping their strength or mauling them in the clinches. He knows what he is doing in there, how to best utilise his size and in short would pose a hard night’s work for any heavyweight in history, past or present.

• Verdict: Fury 10 Joshua 9

Power

Fury showed in his rematch with Wilder that he can ‘punch his weight’ and he now has a respectable 21 stoppage wins from 31 fights. However, despite his size he is not regarded as a particularly devastating one-punch banger. Interestingly though, Dave Allen - who has sparred with both men extensively - rates Fury the harder puncher.

To be fair to Fury, before Wilder 2 he was not an overly aggressive fighter, more of a slick boxer who didn’t always plant his feet and let the shots go with bad intentions. He also turned pro at 19, so his power and ‘man strength’ would not have fully developed in those early years.

Joshua’s power meanwhile has been the subject of much discussion and indeed only two men have ever heard the final bell against him (Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia in 2019 and Joseph Parker in Cardiff back in 2018). The two-time world champion has 16 KO/TKO wins in the opening three rounds so many of his matchups, especially early on as a pro, were closed out rather thrillingly in the first quarter.

Since moving into championship class, AJ has shown that he carries his power late in fights too. This was evidenced in stopping Pulev last time out in the ninth round of an exciting battle. Since that fight he has taken to social media, posting video footage of him repeatedly throwing ominous, hurtful left hooks to the head and body region of a punchbag while labelling himself a ‘Disciple of Destruction’.

Joshua has tried to add more variety to his game and he is no longer the ‘head hunting’ fighter he was early on in his career. Variety aside, he still hits tremendously hard with both the left and the right hand and sits down on his shots more than Fury does. Furthermore, Joshua’s hardcore training regimen and unrivalled dedication to his art have enabled him to maximise his genetic potential and has made him one of the hardest ‘pound-for-pound’ punchers in the sport.

You simply cannot have a powerful punch without strong core muscles, and AJ is forever in the gym working on that core strength and explosiveness. He gets a slight edge here.

• Verdict: Fury 9 Joshua 10

Speed

‘The Gypsy King’ is ridiculously mobile for such a big man. He is not a speedster in the way a young Muhammad Ali was, but has ‘Matrix-Like’ movement and that rare ability to slip punches by centimetres. Fury always looks relaxed in the ring and has a very fast jab. It can look effortless at times as he glides around an opponent looking for openings. However, despite fast hands he is not known for his combination punching, and his YouTube highlight reels don’t contain many examples of three and four-shot combos.

Joshua moves in and out of range very quickly, and unlike Fury he does throw rapid combinations in bunches. He has cut down on muscle mass and his explosive hand speed – including a deadly uppercut - has proved the downfall of many a heavyweight rival to this point. There isn’t a great deal in it truth be told, but we give AJ a slight edge.

• Verdict: Fury 9 Joshua 10

Technical Ability

Joshua has always been known for his explosive and game-changing power, but his boxing skills sometimes go under the radar. He is far from a crude slugger and knows how to dictate the pace of a fight much better than he once did. He has added refined skills to that raw KO power and is now a better defensive fighter than he was when he started out in the pro game. However, he remains more an aggressive boxer-puncher rather than a cute stylist and would perhaps admit himself that technically he remains something of a ‘work in progress’.

Fury proved in his star-making performance against Wladimir Klitschko that he had the technical gifts to beat anyone. There were not many people outside of his inner circle picking ‘The Gypsy King’ before that 2015 clash in Dusseldorf. But the underdog showed he had the cojones and more importantly the brilliant boxing brain to grab a fabulous - and under-rated - win on the road to annex the heavyweight titles.

He started fast that night, fought aggressively in spurts and showed Klitschko zero respect, purposefully stifling his opponent’s rhythm. Fury nullified Wladimir’s ‘jab-and-grab’ style by targeting his head and body with jabs and single shots of his own and this was a key factor to him emerging with a points win.

In that astonishing win over Wilder in February 2020 he showed another, altogether more destructive, side to his game as he boxed on the front foot and dismantled an American opponent who had been described as one of the biggest punchers in heavyweight history.

He looked utterly dominant that night, dropping ‘The Bronze Bomber’ multiple times before the towel came in during the seventh. That win showed us he could win on the front foot.

Fury’s technical wizardry is arguably his greatest strength and this gives him a slight edge over Joshua.

• Verdict: Fury 10 Joshua 9

Chin

Right off the bat we know Joshua was put down multiple times by Ruiz Jr in their first fight, on a night when his ‘Mr Invincible’ aura was lost forever.

The Mexican-American was a huge underdog in Madison Square Garden in June 2019, and though known for having fast hands he has never been considered a murderous puncher. To be fair Joshua beat the count each time, with the referee eventually stopping the fight with the British star on his feet.

There has since been much speculation, rumour and analysis into why AJ lost that night. He did not look himself in the preliminaries, and seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Fury meanwhile was famously dropped and looked to be out cold in the final round of his first fight with Wilder, yet somehow he managed to clamber back to his feet, beat the count and finish the fight strongly.

Neven Pajkic was the first professional to drop ‘The Gypsy King’ back in 2011 but the Morecambe man got up to stop the Canadian by TKO in R3.

Former world cruiserweight champ Steve Cunningham also had Fury down at MSG in 2013, but was then brutally knocked out himself in round seven.

Fury has shown he can be tagged and dropped, but he has never been stopped. Similarly, nobody has kept Joshua on the floor for the 10 count, so it’s honours even in this area.

• Verdict: Fury 10 Joshua 10

Boxing IQ

What makes this unification fight so exciting is the fact that we actually have two ‘once in a generation’ heavyweights in the ring. Joshua won a gold medal at super-heavyweight at the 2012 Olympics, and they do not give those medals away. He also claimed silver at the 2011 World Amateur Championships and so has a better amateur pedigree than Fury. Even though his rise through the amateur and pro ranks was rapid, Joshua has served his time on the job and his combination punching, footwork and general ringcraft have improved considerably over the years.

It was the karate master Mas Oyama who said “one becomes a beginner after 1000 days of training. One becomes a master after 10,000 days of practice.” AJ is arguably the most focused heavyweight out there despite the fame and fortune he has amassed, and this single-minded obsession to be the best, allied to his physical gifts, has brought him to this point.

There’s an argument though that Fury is one of the most naturally gifted heavyweights in history. With quick reflexes and good balance, he is a great mover who can fight going forwards or backwards. He can box orthodox or southpaw and is actually very effective as a ‘leftie’. A master strategist, Fury was good enough to beat up and stop Dereck Chisora in their rematch using only his jab in 2014, and his ring IQ is exceptional.

Tyson is never slow to remind us of his Traveller roots and the fact that he is a “proper fighting man,” but it is clear he has a real natural gift for boxing and he has backed up his boasts every time as a professional. Never more so than during that demolition of Wilder in a fight virtually nobody - apart from the man himself - saw him winning so easily via stoppage.

• Verdict: Fury 10 Joshua 9

Final Scorecard: Fury 58 Joshua 57

Weighing everything up, it seems Fury has the slight edge and this may be why he is a lukewarm favourite with the bookmakers. A worry for ‘Team Fury’ however would be inactivity - if he doesn’t have a tune-up fight he will have been out of the ring for more than a year by the time these British behemoths eventually meet.

Nobody can deny however this is a close fight between two of the world’s most recognisable athletes at the peak of their respective powers, and a bout which can shine a light on the sport and showcase everything that is good about prize fighting.

Now just make it happen...