Tyson Fury is one of boxing’s greats, though, he hasn’t always had the respect he has today, particularly from fellow boxers who want to upstage him.

Fury is undoubtedly one of the greatest British boxers ever and stepping into the ring with him would be a huge opportunity for any competitor.

However, it seems like that will never happen again after he ‘retired’ following his fight with Dillian Whyte in April.

Even after his retirement, there is a question over whether we will ever see the mouthwatering rumoured clash between Fury and Anthony Joshua. There was a time where both boxers were at the top of their game and engaging in some back and forth online.

In fact, a tweet from AJ dating back to 2017 is still resurfacing to this day.

At the time, Joshua was facing backlash from the boxing world for postponing his unification fight with either Deontay Wilder or Joseph Parker.

Fury was one of those to critique Joshua.

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND - MAY 01: Anthony Joshua tapes his hands up prior to a training session during the Anthony Joshua Media Day at the English Institute of Sport on May 01, 2019 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Tyson suggested that the Watford-born fighter had struggled to get past Carlos Takam despite Joshua winning in the 10th round via TKO to retain his titles. 

AJ then chose the direct route to insulting Fury.

The drama happened while the Gypsy King was struggling with his mental health and had decided to take a hiatus from the sport. This had quite a detrimental effect on his physical health, too.

Fury was often seen partying and constantly gaining weight during his break from the sport which provided immediate ammo to Joshua.

Anthony Joshua's five-word tweet to Tyson Fury in 2017 is still awkward

On his Twitter page, Joshua tagged Fury and said ‘get fit you fat f***’ which is funny to look back on in the present day.

Tyson is coming off an awesome trilogy with Wilder, featuring two wins for the Gypsy King, while Joshua hasn’t had the best of luck in the ring as of late.

Following a shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr, Joshua hasn’t been himself. He got his win back over Ruiz to make the result feel like a blip, but then lost again in 2021, this time to Oleksandr Usyk. 

Both fighters have clearly been on completely different trajectories since Joshua sent out that tweet nearly five years ago.

It’s unclear whether Fury will return to the ring, but a clash between the two still interests boxing fans, especially given the back and forth between them online in recent years.