Tyson Fury: 'Anthony Joshua hit me so hard I was almost knocked out for a month'
The WWE-style exchange between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua that punctuated the former’s comeback victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov didn’t reveal much about whether the two Britons will ever engage in a professional bout. But it did remind everyone that they've exchanged punches before.
Joshua – when only a 20-year-old up-and-coming amateur – got the better of Fury during a sparring session that took place in 2010. “I beat you up when we were kids,” said Joshua, who refused to succumb to Fury’s goading and accept the offer of a fight.
An audio clip has since emerged from the time of the sparring of a Fury interview, conducted by Steve Bunce, in which Fury, then English heavyweight champion, described getting a “beating” from young Joshua.
“I sparred with the ABA champion [Anthony Joshua]. He’s red hot, him. He’s very good,” the 21-year-old Fury told Bunce in 2010.
“To be honest, I thought to myself I’ve only got to take it easy because he’s only an amateur and he won’t spar again if I go mad. He’s rushed out at me, he threw a one-two, I’m trying to slip and slide and take my time, then, bash, he hit me with a right uppercut right in the point of my chin. If I’d have had a bit of a weak chin… I’d have been knocked out for a month.
“He's very good, though, and he’s very young – 20. Watch out for that name: Anthony Joshua. He is one [top] prospect for the future.”
Joshua was still two years away from winning gold at the Olympic Games in London. Fury, however, was already 11 fights into his professional career.
“I class myself as one of the top prospects, one of the best heavyweights in the world and he came at me for three rounds and he give me a beating,” Fury said. “I’m not going to deny it; he gave me what for, hell for leather for three rounds. I thought, oh my god an amateur is killing me.
“I thought I could slow him down with a few good body shots and I’m a handful myself. So, for him to put up a performance like that against me, I think he’s one for the future. But sparring ain’t fighting and fighting with a head guard on is not professional boxing.
“I tell it like it is. If the kid was no good, I’d say it. But he is good and I’ll tell anyone that he beat me up in sparring.”
