Search icon

Sport

20th Nov 2018

Stop the presses because Tyson Fury has praised Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn

Fury never fails to surprise

Darragh Murphy

There are many sides to Tyson Fury

When he has to sell a fight, Tyson Fury is more than capable of speaking exclusively in trash talk which also happens to do no harm whatsoever when it comes to psychological warfare.

But behind all the bravado, Fury is refreshingly honest and doesn’t feel the need to speak ill of anyone when he’s not in hype mode.

It remains very possible that ‘The Gypsy King’ will share the ring with Anthony Joshua next year, with victory over WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder next month almost guaranteeing that the diverging paths of Fury and Joshua are brought closer together.

He’s talked plenty of smack about ‘AJ’ in the past, but Fury was unusually complimentary towards Joshua’s most recent bout in a podcast appearance this week.

“I thought he done really well to be fair, I thought ‘AJ’ handled it terrifically,” Fury said on the Fighting Spirits podcast.

“Povetkin is nobody’s fool, Povetkin’s a dangerous customer. The only person to ever beat him was Wladimir. There’s no shame in losing to Wladimir Klitschko.

“I thought he did fantastic to win and carry on what he’s doing for boxing.”

Fury was also full of praise for Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn, with whom he’s shared a few choice words in the past.

Fury has laughed off suggestions that he genuinely dislikes the Matchroom boss and couldn’t have been nicer when discussing Hearn’s status as one of boxing’s top promoters.

“I think he’s a decent bloke to be honest. He’s funny, charismatic, young, good-looking, tall – everything a good promoter should be. He’s British, got a good dress sense,” Fury said.

“I don’t dislike Eddie, I think he’s a nice fella. When I’ve been in his company we always have a laugh and a chat. I understand it’s just business…

“I could never say Eddie Hearn is a bad promoter or a bad manager because look what he’s done with Joshua. I don’t believe anybody else could have done the same job in the world.”