Tyson Fury has previously spoken about Anthony Joshua’s potential opponents.
Now the undisputed heavyweight championship fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury has passed, many are looking to Anthony Joshua’s potential opponents.
Tyson Fury previously compared one of Anthony Joshua’s potential upcoming opponents to Rocky character Ivan Drago.
Joshua is rumoured to be fighting the victor of Filip Hrgovic vs Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in September. Hrgovic and Dubois go to battle in Saudi Arabia on June 1 for the IBF heavyweight championship, which will likely be stripped off Oleksandr Usyk, despite the Ukrainian beating Fury to become undisputed champion.
The September clash at Wembley could be for the championship, giving Joshua the opportunity to become a three-time heavyweight champion of the world. Fury has previously highlighted his admiration for Dubois, who is also represented by Frank Warren at Queensbury promotions.
However, his brief history with Croatian heavyweight Hrgovic is also particularly interesting as Eddie Hearn reportedly offered him to Fury as a potential opponent.
In the summer of 2023 when Fury and his organisers were looking for an opponent, Hearn claimed he would be happy to present Hrgovic as an option. However, the Matchroom Chief said he did not believe Fury would accept a challenge from the unbeaten star.
Last year, Hearn told Boxing Social : “I’ll tell you if he wants, he can fight Filip Hrgovic. If he is looking for an opponent, we’ve got the Hrgovic fight.
” Tyson Fury is smart, he doesn’t want a risky fight. Before Joe Joyce got beat he kept saying ‘Yeah once I’ve fought Usyk then you can get it Joyce’ because he didn’t really fancy the Joyce fight. I know he thinks he can win the fight but he will only take those big fights if the money is massive.”
Hrgovic still has his unbeaten record.
The fight was not able to be made and Fury accepted a challenge from Francis Ngannou instead, which the Gypsy King was only just about able to win via a controversial split-decision. Meanwhile, Fury has been a lot more outspoken on Dubois.
The young heavyweight recovered from being knocked out by Usyk last summer to stop Jarell Miller in Saudi Arabia. When asked about his explosive fighting style, Fury offered the ultimate compliment by comparing the young Brit to the big hitting Rocky villain Drago.
Fury told BT Sport: “Daniel Dubois. He’s a big, strong lad and whatever he hits falls. He’s like Ivan Drago, isn’t he? ‘I will hit you and break you, no matter what happens’.”
Joshua knocked out Ngannou in his last fight.
Dubois had produced 19 knockouts over the course of his 20 victories and has only lost two bouts – against Usyk last summer and Joe Joyce in 2020. Meanwhile, Hrgovic boasts an exemplary 17-0 record with 14 stoppages.
He was also the first fighter to beat Zhilei Zhang when he edged the Chinese giant with a controversial unanimous decision victory in 2022. That clash was supposed to have given him a world title shot at Usyk, but the Ukrainian opted to fight Fury for the undisputed championship instead.