“I believe that they will get me that one step closer to landing the perfect punch to pin Fury to the ground,” Joshua said at the kick-off press conference, laying out the ending he sees in Cardiff before a punch has been thrown.
The two British heavyweights met face to face on Wednesday at the British Airways ARC at Olympia for the official launch of their 11 December fight at the Principality Stadium, confirmed for the WBA ‘Super’ heavyweight title vacated by Oleksandr Usyk earlier in the year. The card will stream worldwide on Netflix.
Fury, 38, was not interested in a chess match.
“I’m going to come out and I’m going to blast him out there. From what I’m seeing, I’m going to catch him and, when I do, it’s going to be curtains,” Fury told reporters at the London presser.
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He then went after Joshua’s chin.
“You can’t put muscles on the tash. When I crack him on my jaw with a big right hand, he’s going to go down like a sack of s‑‑t,” Fury said.
Davison back with Joshua, Peter Fury on the phone
The 36-year-old has reunited with Ben Davison as his lead trainer for the camp, telling reporters: “I’m back with Ben full time, that’s the plan for this camp.”
Davison previously worked with Fury before the Deontay Wilder trilogy, and the Mancunian did not hide his contempt for the switch.
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“Don’t forget I left Ben Davison to go with Sugar Hill because he wasn’t good enough,” Fury said.
Joshua has also quietly brought another familiar name into the orbit of his preparation: Fury’s uncle and former trainer, Peter Fury.
“I speak to Peter Fury. He’s willing to help me as well,” Joshua said, adding that the conversations have focused on “our training and how I can approach the fight”.
A $200m Cardiff card on Netflix
The numbers around the fight are already outsized. The bout has been put together by Turki Alalshikh’s Ring Magazine in partnership with UFC president Dana White, with a reported purse pool of roughly $200m and the Principality Stadium configured to seat around 80,000. Fury (36-2-1, 25 KOs) opened as a betting favourite over Joshua (30-4, 27 KOs), who is coming off a knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois in September 2024.
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The first bell is on Friday, 11 December at the Principality Stadium.
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