Tyson Fury has taken shots at heavyweight rivals Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk, claiming they would be no match for his namesake and former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in his prime.
Fury took to Twitter on Saturday to reply to a comment made by Iron Mike back in September when Usyk defeated Joshua, and in doing so claimed the Brit’s three titles for himself.
Shortly after the bout, Tyson posed the question: "From that performance, do you really think they could have beat me?"
Only now has this received an answer from the Gypsy King himself, who claimed the boxing legend would have ‘chinned the pair of p****s’.
Usyk defeated Joshua by decision, becoming only the third boxer in history to win titles at both cruiserweight and heavyweight – with the first boxer to achieve such a feat being one of Tyson’s own rivals Evander Holyfield.
But this, nor the fight put up by Joshua, were enough to win the respect of boxing giants, past and present.
Mike Tyson is considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, having claimed his first belt aged only 20 years old. He retired from boxing with a 50-6-2 record, with 44 wins by KO.
But regardless of Tyson’s greatness, it should be no surprise that Fury would back the legend to defeat Usyk and Joshua.
Considering the domestic battle to be the ‘best of Britain’ between Fury and Joshua, and the likelihood of an upcoming fight between Fury and Usyk, it would be more surprising had Fury paid respect to either.
On the other hand, Fury has long expressed his admiration for Tyson, as far back as September 2019, when Fury appeared on the latter’s podcast ‘Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson’ and revealed how he was named after Iron Mike.
In recent days, it has been reported that Joshua is willing to step aside and allow Fury to face Usyk, which would see the winner crowned undisputed champion. However, Joshua has also expressed his desire to take back his titles from the Ukrainian.
If rumours of Fury vs Usyk turn out to be false, then the two-time world heavyweight champion Fury could defend his WBC title against Dillian Whyte.
Meanwhile, Usyk vs Joshua 2 could be expected to take place in March or April 2022, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.
Come this time, it seems a lot will have to go right for either fighter to earn the respect of their heavyweight counterpart.