Tyson Fury has questioned Anthony Joshua’s resilience in the ring, noting how “AJ” was the exception to a recent Daniel Dubois rule.
On Saturday night, Dubois climbed off the canvas twice to stop Fabio Wardley in the 11th round, winning the WBO heavyweight title in the process.
The result made the Briton, 28, a two-time world champion, after his interim IBF belt was upgraded to the official title in 2024 – before he retained it by stopping Anthony Joshua at Wembley.
Tyson Fury at a post-fight press conference after beating Arslanbek Makhmudov (Getty)
And Fury, who is contracted to sign Joshua later this year, referenced that 2024 bout on Sunday while discussing Dubois’s win over Wardley.
“Well, I’ve just been sat here thinking, after Dubois’s unbelievable fight last night,” Fury said in an Instagram video. “Dubois fought ‘Big Baby’ [Jarrell] Miller, stopped him, never put him down.
“Then he fought [Filip] Hrgovic, stopped him, never put him down. He fought Wardley last night in an unbelievable fight, stopped him, never put him down.
“He hit [Oleksandr] Usyk with some big bombs, never put him over, but yet he fights Anthony Joshua and pummels him, puts him to the floor five times.”
Dubois in fact dropped Joshua four times in their bout, while AJ was ruled to have slipped in a separate moment.
“I’m not saying Anthony Joshua’s chinless,” Fury continued, “but they’re the facts. Take it as you wish and as you will. Everybody else never went over, not a singular person – Big Baby Miller, Hrgovic, Usyk or Wardley, but Joshua goes down five times.
“Chinny, get up!” the 37-year-old laughed, before ending the video.
Daniel Dubois (centre) handed Anthony Joshua his fourth career loss and second by stoppage (PA Wire)
Dubois was stopped by Usyk in 2023 and again last summer, with his wins over Miller, Hrgovic and Joshua taking place between those defeats. Dubois actually dropped Usyk to the mat in their first clash, but his attempted body shot was ruled a low blow. Dubois’s team attempted to have the fight result overturned, but their attempt was unsuccessful.
Before facing fellow Briton Fury, Joshua will box relative unknown Kristian Prenga in Saudi Arabia on 25 July. Fury has also said he wants a warm-up fight before taking on Joshua – with their bout expected to take place at Wembley this autumn.
Fury actually fought as recently as 11 April, outpointing Arslanbek Makmudov while emerging from retirement for the fifth time. And Joshua’s latest outing was a sixth-round stoppage of YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in December, 10 days before AJ survived a fatal car crash in Nigeria. That accident claimed the lives of two of his teammates: Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele.
Since then, Joshua has been training with old rival Usyk in the latter’s native Ukraine. Usyk, who holds the unified heavyweight belts, outpointed Joshua in 2021 and 2022, and he did the same against Fury twice in 2024.
