Tyson Fury has hit out at rivals Dillian Whyte, Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk, posting a meme of the heavyweights and promoter Eddie Hearn as characters from the Wizard of Oz film.
Fury is set to defend his WBC title against Whyte in April, after the mandatory challenger and Anthony Joshua failed to come to terms on step-aside deals that would have allowed Fury to face fellow champion Usyk.
Joshua dropped the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts to Usyk in September, outpointed by the undefeated Ukrainian in north London a month before Fury retained his WBC title with a second straight stoppage of Deontay Wilder in the rivals’ trilogy bout.
“It’s this lot vs me,” Fury wrote in a tweet on Tuesday, alongside a picture of Whyte as the Cowardly Lion, Joshua as the Tin Man, Usyk as the Scarecrow, and Hearn as Dorothy – all characters from the Wizard of Oz, released in 1939.
“Such a funny time for me they lost it at the last minute,” Fury continued, having previously criticised Joshua for demanding too much money to step aside and allow a unification bout between the “Gypsy King” and Usyk.
Joshua triggered a rematch clause following his loss to Usyk, with the Briton expected to fight the southpaw again this spring.
That defeat was the second of Joshua’s professional career, following his stoppage loss to Andy Ruiz Jr in June 2019 – a result that “AJ” avenged by outpointing the Mexican-American at the end of that year.
Meanwhile, former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk remained undefeated by overcoming Joshua, and Fury kept his unbeaten record in tact with his most recent victory over Wilder.
Whyte last fought in March, stopping Alexander Povetkin after being knocked out by the Russian in August 2020.
