After a two and a half year hiatus from boxing Tyson Fury is set to return to the sport in which he conquered.

The former heavyweight champion has suffered from a number of personal issues in the past few years which kept him away from the sport, but with those issues resolved, he looks set to return to the ring at some point this year.

The Mancunian has lofty ambitions upon his return, stating on numerous occasions that he wishes to fight Anthony Joshua and win the belts back that he previously held.

And after Eddie Hearn hinted that Joshua would retire before he fought Fury, the 29-year-old sent a stern message to the Watford born man on Instagram.

"I just saw reports that Eddie Hearn saying Joshua will retire before he fights me and if he does, I told y'all he was a s***house and he's afraid of the Gypsy King," Fury said. "Look, I got myself back in shape... and now he wants to retire all of a sudden.

"Typical, typical, typical moves, stay active, get a couple of fights in because I'm going to take you to school, play with you. It's going to be unbelievable, an easy fight. (I'll) jab his head right off, use his head like a springboard."

JOSHUA'S HONEST OPINION OF FURY

With rumours of a fight between the two intensifying, Joshua has now addressed what he thinks about Fury before his fight with Joseph Parker on Saturday.

And it's fair to say Joshua was not complimentary.

The 28-year-old wrote in his column with the Evening Standard: "Tyson Fury has got a lot of people talking recently about the big news he is going to announce but I don’t spend any of my time thinking about him.

"People want to see him back in the sport and he is calling out big names for his first fight back but, give it a couple of bouts and people will realise how boring he is again.

"My only interest is to unify the heavyweight division so he isn’t even a potential opponent for me as he has no belts and hasn’t been remotely active."

Ouch. A lot of boxing fans want to see a fight between the two in the future, but it seems Joshua has no interest of that happening at this moment in time.

However, this hints that if Fury would be able to get his hands on a belt, Joshua's opinion on fighting the Mancunian would change.

Let's hope Fury can manage to win a belt so we can finally see the two biggest names in British boxing finally battle it out.