Boxing legend Johnny Nelson has predicted that Anthony Joshua will defeat Tyson Fury if the highly-anticipated bout between the two fighters is confirmed.

Nelson, who held the cruiserweight championship for six years between 1999 and 2005 and now works as a pundit for Sky Sports, believes Joshua’s power will hold a key advantage.

Speaking to Sky Sports Boxing, he forecasted: “AJ wins by late stoppage. AJ has that raw power which will make Fury think about boxing him more than beating him up.

“As Joshua gets his second wind in the later rounds, that’s when he’ll land a shot on Fury and knock him out.”

Joshua’s power statistics are backed up by the fact that the 31-year-old has a total of 22 knockouts from his 24 professional victories, with his most recent knockout victory coming against Kubrat Pulev earlier this month.

And Fury has first-hand experience of facing Joshua in the ring, with the duo having taken part in a sparring session in London back in 2010, the same year that Fury produced one of his finest boxing performances in defeating fellow Briton John McDermott.

Joshua explained to iFL TV: “We talk about the performance [against Pulev], we probably want to talk about those uppercuts right?

“Fury knows about them uppercuts! He said it on the BBC interview years ago. I respect him for his honesty.

“Sparring is sparring, you don’t gain nothing but it’s nice to share a ring with someone I’m fighting.

“It’s funny how he mentioned the uppercut years back, you can see throughout my career it’s brought many successes my way.”

A two-fight deal between Joshua and Fury is reportedly close to being agreed, according to Eddie Hearn, with the first bout potentially due to take place in May or June 2021.

Speaking to SirusXM, Hearn explained: “We’re close. Backwards and forwards with contracts at the moment.

“Things have been progressing really well over the last week. I really believe you will see that fight May/June, everyone’s working well in the right direction.”