Published January 29, 2021
Joe Joyce is convinced Tyson Fury will beat Anthony Joshua in their £ 200 m heavyweight showdown .
Joyce has had experience of sparring against both athletes and believes Fury holds the upper hand as AJ is too ‘ wary of getting hit ’.
It is likely that Joyce will face the winner of the Fury -AJ showdown , following his own fight against Oleksandr Usyk .
Joyce knows Joshua from their days on the GB boxing squad and feels the unified champion is ‘ too negative in his style ’.
Joyce credited AJ for ‘picking himself up ’ after suffering a stunning seventh-round knockout defeat at the hands of Andy Ruiz Jr. However, he claims the 31 -year – old is now too worried about getting hit .
When asked who he backed to win the Fury -AJ fight , Joyce told the Evening Standard , “ I ’m going with Fury because of his performances and the way he ’ s come back from his lowest point to beat Deontay Wilder for the WBC .
“ I think that while Joshua’s picked himself up since losing to Andy Ruiz Jr , he ’s kind of been a bit too negative in his style , and been a bit wary of the shots coming back at him .
“ Don ’t get me wrong, it ’ s a 50 – 50 fight , Joshua has got great strength , hand speed , dedication and motivation , and he ’s very competitive . With Fury , you know he is mentally very strong , tactically as well .
“ He ’s unorthodox and hard to hit , he ’s fast and he ’s a bigger guy with the longer reach . For me , he has the edge .”
Joshua hit the canvas four times during his loss to Ruiz Jr . However, he reclaimed the WBO , IBF, IBO, WBA titles in the December 2019 during their rematch .
Joshua won the fight by an unanimous decision after keeping his distance and taking Ruiz to the 12 th round.
Some critics , including Joyce , felt AJ was too cautious against Ruiz. While some felt the ‘ negative style ’ Joyce refers to could also be seen against Kubrat Pulev in December.