Fury on Joshua: Let's See if He Has the Courage to Fight Me

Pulse Sports Team 13:57 - 25 July 2026

Tyson Fury remains unconvinced that Anthony Joshua will agree to their long-awaited mega-clash, questioning whether his rival possesses the "courage" to face him. Fury spoke after his seventh-round knockout victory over Mariusz Wach in an untelevised bout in Thailand on Friday. He recalled that Joshua failed to enter the ring to confront him after Fury's win against Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Stadium in April.

Joshua's warm-up fight before a potential showdown with Fury later this year is scheduled for Saturday in Saudi Arabia, where he will face Christian Prenga. This will be his first fight since surviving a car crash in Nigeria in December that claimed the lives of two close friends.

"I passed my test. Let's see if Joshua passes his. The biggest test of all is how brave he is. I think he's a big coward," Fury stated. "At Tottenham, in front of 70,000 people, he didn't have the courage to get in the ring and face me. Let's see if he ever does. I'm not convinced. I'll regroup. Hopefully, the next big fight will be signed next week, and we'll go where we're headed. Will it be in Vegas? In New York? In Ireland? In London? Who knows – maybe in Belfast? It might even be here, in Pattaya, Thailand!"

Fury, whose fight with Joshua could take place at Wembley at 2:00 AM British time to accommodate a global television audience, stated he would not travel to Jeddah for a face-off with AJ this weekend.

"For the past six or seven months, I've been away from home," said the 37-year-old 'Gypsy King'. "I'm definitely not going to Jeddah. I'm going home to my wife and children, who have been supporting me from afar. I was in training camp for 10 weeks. Before that, I was away for four months, so I'm going home to rest."

Fury also insisted he needed a fight against Polish veteran Wach, three months after his points victory over Russian Makhmudov:

"I've only had one fight in two years. This is my second fight in two years. Of course, I wanted to get some rounds in. I want to be active. It's not just the boxing in the ring. It's the week before the fight – the press conference, the weigh-in, the tension, everything."