THE HEAVYWEIGHT WAIT, WAIT, WAIT IS OVER
RING: You’re known as the more durable fighter. But despite any cracks in AJ’s armor, his hitting power surely still has to be respected, right? TF: Name me a heavyweight that doesn’t punch hard. RING: Well, I know that Usyk shook you up a bit, but Usyk, by comparison, doesn’t punch as hard with a single shot. You’ve been in there with Usyk. Joshua is the bigger hitter of the two, surely? TF: Yeah, but the power doesn’t really mean much, because all heavyweights are banging hard. I’ve been in there with the heaviest puncher in history, Deontay Wilder. I went straight to [Klitschko]. RING: No, come on, you outboxed him. You rendered his offense useless. TF: I took his best shots on the chin, though. [Klitschko] hit me with loads of big right hands and left hooks in that fight. I’ve never rated Joshua as a one- punch knockout man. In my opinion, he’s a volume puncher. The only person he’s ever knocked spark-out is [Francis] Ngannou. The other ones have been on-their-feet stoppages, 10 shots in a row, the referee jumps in. He’s never been a Deontay Wilder puncher who’ll switch you off. He’s definitely a volume puncher. And I don’t value that, because, at the end of the day, I’m going to be punching very hard, too, and I will beat him to the target. I believe I’m much slicker than he’ll ever know how to be, and I’ll one hundred percent land first and knock him out. Guaranteed, one million percent, this fight ain’t going past six rounds. RING: How proud are you of bringing Netflix into professional boxing? You’ve been a trailblazer and a pioneer in that marriage. TF: Yeah, it’s been an unbelievable partnership. Obviously, we’ve done all the documentaries and reality shows. I’ve just been offered Season 4 of At Home With the Furys , so that’s flying. To bring the biggest streaming platform
Anybody else in the division, 10th position to me and stuff, I’m not interested. Do you understand? That’s the one I want. And [the Joshua fight] is the one I’m going to have to win to get Usyk again. RING: What did you make of the Verhoeven fight? Most of us were shocked by that. TF: Well, to me it wasn’t a shock. I’ve got messages on my phone to my brothers about it. I said the fight would be a problem, not because of how good or bad the kickboxer is, but expect the unexpected. Everyone expected Usyk to blast him away in a round or two, so anything other than that was a loss. It was also in an awkward place, out in the Pyramids in Egypt. There’s nothing to gain or to lose apart from some money. So I knew it was going to be an awkward fight, a horrible fight for him. You don’t get up for these fights. They’re just playthings. You’ve seen Usyk box the best of them, then he goes in there and probably loses every round against Rico until he knocks him out. But the way that the public and people have gone on, boxing people, it just shows you how fickle it is. How they’re on your dick one moment, and you’re a piece of shit the next. The way people have gone on, it was like Usyk got the knockout loss against the kickboxer. RING: Many boxers enjoy giving back to the sport. What do you want to do when you’ve finished competing? TF: I look after some young fighters, so that’s what I’ll continue to do – look after young fighters [in a management capacity]. RING: Is this rivalry with AJ destined to become a series, or is it one and done? TF: Well, we’ll see, because it took me 10 years to get this fight. Listen, if it ends up being a good fight, I think there will be a rematch. If it doesn’t, then I don’t think there’s any reason for a rematch, really.
A trilogy bout with Oleksandr Usyk remains a priority for Fury.
on Earth to boxing, with all the views and eyes on it, is an unbelievable honor. All the big boxing stations have gone. Your HBO, your Showtime, BT Sports … you’ve only really got DAZN now. Most people have Netflix, and most people know what Netflix is. Other than Dana White’s fighters, I’m the only one in the world who ain’t with DAZN. The rest of the promoters have DAZN contracts, apart from me. I’m definitely unique. I’ve always been unique and done my own thing, so it’s great.
[Editor’s note: Fighters under the MVP banner are not with DAZN.]
great fighters. It’s not just being a good boxer; you have to be a personality. You have to have the looks and stuff. At Home With the Furys is the biggest show that Netflix has ever broadcast in the U.K. The numbers that I generate are colossal, and that’s going to be hard to match. RING: You’ll be a hard act to follow. TF: I’ve also got a documentary. The Entertainer is coming out this year as well. I think it’ll be dropping before the
AJ fight. And that’s another big thing. It’s a documentary on my life from birth to champion, like a full in-depth thing. RING: We’ve discussed Usyk. Do you still dream of getting to him? TF: Listen, we had the two fights, good fights for the undisputed title. He got the decisions, so fair play to him. I need to get my revenge. He needs a dance partner to make some money, while I need to get that victory back. So, yeah, that’s the fight that I want.
RING: Both you and AJ are in the twilight of your careers now. Do you think Netflix will continue to be involved in boxing when you’re no longer competing? TF: The thing is, Netflix are only interested in the biggest stars or personalities. There have been loads of fighters out there that they’re not interested in, even champions and
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