By Charles Brun: Tyson Fury’s promoter Bob Arum says it’s a stupid idea for the “chinny” Anthony Joshua to be taking a rematch with Oleksander Usyk next April because he’ll lose again.
Arum has a good idea of the game plan for Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) in his rematch with IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs).
He expects Joshua, 31, to try and use his size to pin Usyk to the ropes and then unload. It’s a plan that won’t work, according to Arum, because Usyk will catch Joshua with something and knock him out if he tries to impose his size.
Joshua’s pride is his worst enemy right now because he can’t let himself walk away without attempting to avenge his loss to Usyk from last September.
AJ thinks that because he was able to avenge his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. in a rematch, he’ll be able to do the same thing to Usyk.
Arum says, “chinny’ Joshua will lose the rematch
“Eddie [Hearn] thought Joshua wouldn’t be amenable to a step aside and would want to do the rematch, which is sort of stupidity on his part because no way is he going to beat Usyk in his next fight no matter what new strategy he deploys,” said Arum.
“Yeah, too talented, and he’s a little chinny, Joshua is,” said Arum about Usyk being too talented for Joshua to beat him in the rematch.
“The only way you’re going to beat Usyk is to pin him and corner him with your high weight and [pressure him.
“But then he can unload against you. Now, Tyson Fury can absorb that, as we all know, but Anthony Joshua has a suspect chin,” Arum said.
“Usyk would probably opt not to do the rematch [with Anthony Joshua and go straight into Fury fight.
“The rematch rights are held by Joshua and his promoter [Eddie Hearn]. They activated it, yeah, to protect themselves legally,” said Arum.
The chances are high that Joshua will lose the rematch with Usyk, and his career will fall to pieces. It’s too bad Eddie Hearn isn’t the voice of reason, telling Joshua what a dumb idea it is to fight Usyk right away.
The easier move would be for Joshua to step aside and let Tyson Fury face Usyk for the undisputed championship in April. Joshua would be free to fight the winner of that fight for all the marbles next September.
Undisputed clash in September or October
“Probably,” said Arum when asked if he expects the undisputed heavyweight clash to take place in the fall of 2022.
“It depends on when they [Joshua and Usyk] get off their interim fight. Joshua and Usyk, I think they’re going to wait until April 4th.
“I think Fury will fight again in March or April. Then we can look to September or October match for a unification.
“That is something you don’t teach,” said Arum when asked how Fury was able to take the massive shots from Deontay Wilder last Saturday night.
“That’s a God-given gift to make that type of recovery from a blow that if it hit any other person would concuss that other person.
“He [Fury] gets up like it doesn’t affect him at all. That’s amazing. I’ve never seen that before,” said Arum.
The best-case scenario for Fury is for Joshua to defeat Usyk in March or April, which would lead to a Joshua-Fury fight in September 2022. It’s a bigger fight between Fury and Joshua than if Usyk were to be facing Tyson.
Whyte will lose to Wallin, says Arum
“Give him his space. There’s no sense jumping into this. You talk so glibly about a Dillian Whyte [vs. Tyson Fury] fight,” said Arum. “I don’t think Dillian beats Wallin.
“Tyson fought Wallin. He’s a tough, tough Swedish dude. So let’s see how Dillian Whyte does against Wallin before we make plans for Fury to fight Whyte.
Arum isn’t saying his plans if Dillian Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) defeats Otto Wallin (22-1, 14 KOs) on October 14th.
Fury will be ordered to fight the winner of the Whyte-Wallin fight, and he’s going to have to either take that match or vacate.
The third option would be for Fury to ask the World Boxing Council to make him the Franchise champion so that he doesn’t have to fight the Whyte vs. Wallin winner.
Arum isn’t saying anything now about Fury possibly going the Franchise round because he would get a lot of bad press if he did that.
When push comes to shove, and Fury is ordered to fight the winner of that match, you can expect him to go the Franchise route.
