Tyson Fury has questioned why Anthony Joshua has failed to confront him in the ring after years of British rivalry.
Fury defeated Derek Chisora in his ring return last night dominating his British rival to end their trilogy in style with an early stoppage. It was a complete mismatch, which was made largely down to the collapse of a potential title fight with Joshua who missed Fury's deadline to sign the contract for yesterday's date.
The British pair have been long-term rivals for several years but have only come face-to-face once during an encounter abroad while on holiday. And Fury has praised Joshua's recent conqueror Usyk after he yesterday travelled to London, becoming involved in a heated altercation with his fellow champion after the fight.
"Usyk came here tonight to do a fight. Ringside, stood there, got in my face. He wants to fight," Fury explained in his post-fight press conference when discussing the incident with the Ukrainian. "Even big Joe thought he was going to join that party. Gatecrashed that party, [thinking,] 'I want a piece of this.'
"In all these years, we live in the same country has anyone ever, ever seen AJ do that to me, get in my face, say let's fight?" Fury and Joshua have been rivals for years but a fight, that everyone wants to see, has yet to materialise.
The pair came close to competing with the undisputed titles on the line last year, but Fury was forced by court arbitration to accept a date which derailed the shot. Joshua then lost to Usyk which put a further spanner in the works and prevented the pair from touching gloves again.
Do you think Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will ever fight? Let us know in the comments section below
A fight nearly came into existence for this month, with Fury offering the WBC title shot to Joshua who was initially keen to bounce back from his second consecutive defeat. But the fight collapsed again with both parties appearing to heap blame on each other once again.
Fury appeared to cast doubt on taking a fight in the future with "coward" Joshua, suggesting that he no longer views it as a glamour showdown. "No, there's no glamour in fighting a coward, none,” Fury said. "I don't fight cowards; I only fight real men. So, to say that's a glamour fight? No way. My glamour fight was fighting the 43-0 Deontay Wilder in America [he was 40-0 when they first fought, 42-0-1 the second time and 42-1-1 the third]. That was my glamour fight.
"The first time two heavyweight champions have fought each other while being undefeated since Ali fought Frazier the first time. That’s my glamour fight. This other bum fight over here with Joshua was a bit like a Sunday roast, people over here only respect it in England and Usyk will be a walk in the park, I’ll butcher him."
