Hughie Fury on why he can beat Anthony Joshua after taking care of business against Kubrat Pulev in IBF eliminator
Exclusive: Fury is potentially just one victory away from a shot at Joshua and insists he is feeling confident after watching the champion’s stoppage win over Alexander Povetkin
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There is a good reason why no heavyweight has ever managed to unify all four of boxing’s major belts, and it has precious little to do with what goes on inside the ring.
It reality it's what goes on outside of it that matters, at clandestine meetings between faceless men. Each of the sanctioning bodies has its own list of mandatory challengers waiting patiently in line, which means that many a world champion has been stripped of his title for taking the wrong fight.
That’s precisely why Anthony Joshua – the reigning WBA (Super), IBF and WBO king – has to pick his opponents carefully, and won’t be fighting the likes of Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk in immediate succession. And it’s also why Hughie Fury, the current British heavyweight champion, watched Joshua’s recent title defence against Alexander Povetkin with a particularly keen eye.
Fury is potentially just one victory away from a second shot at a world title and the 24-year-old, currently preparing to face Kubrat Pulev in Bulgaria in an IBF final eliminator, says Joshua’s performance in the seventh-round stoppage win has made him even more confident he can become the first man to beat the Londoner.
“I have always been confident of winning that Joshua fight anyway, it is the fight that we have always wanted and this has only made me more confident,” he told The Independent.
“He just didn’t have much of a game plan against Povetkin. And early on in the fight, when he was caught at the end of the first round, I really think he was hurt. It made him fight a lot more cautiously, and even though in the end it went the way that I thought, you have to say that he made hard work of it.
“There’s a lot of vulnerability there. Fair play to Povetkin because he came out and faced up to him, but in the end it came down to age difference. His hand speed early in the fight was tremendous. But eventually Joshua was able to plant his feet and knock him out.”
Fury is on the comeback trail, after his attempt to win the WBO title from Joseph Parker last year in a controversial points defeat. He bounced back to stop Sam Sexton to claim the Lonsdale belt, and now finds himself preparing for a final eliminator with the dangerous Pulev, who was last year scheduled to fight Joshua before suffering a last-minute chest injury.
After a disappointing end to 2017, things have started to fall into place for Fury. Pulev was originally ordered by the IBF to fight Dominic Breazeale – only for the American to duck the bout. Subsequent plans to fight Matchroom boxers Dillian Whyte and Jarrell Miller fell through, with Fury next in line for a shot to jump to the front of the IBF queue.
“The fact that Hughie Fury is coming to Bulgaria when many others ran away speaks volumes,” said Pulev earlier this month. “I understand that he is very motivated because this is an eliminator fight for a chance at the world title.”
For Fury, the fight offers him a chance to return to the world stage after his loss to Parker, something more than worth a trip to Bulgaria to fight in enemy territory.
“I believe everything happens for a reason and I have not dwelled on what happened against Joseph Parker, I have put it behind me and I focus on the positives,” he added.
“And if you believe you are the best well then it does not matter where you fight them. It really shouldn’t faze you one bit. If you can fight and handle yourself then you have to take fights like this one.”
Fire & Fury: Pulev vs Fury will be broadcast live in the UK on Channel 5 on Saturday, October 27.
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