Tyson Fury deals blow to Anthony Joshua by confirming next fight - The Mirror

The two British heavyweight giants have been tipped to fight for quite some time now, but Joshua may have to wait a little longer to share the ring with Fury

Tyson Fury has revealed he intends to face Oleksandr Usyk for a third time if he wins the rematch later this month, crushing Anthony Joshua's hopes of an all-British clash.

Both Fury and Usyk will go head-to-head for a second time on December 21 in Riyadh. 'The Gypsy King' is out for revenge after the Ukrainian handed the Brit the first defeat of his professional career back in May. After scoring a split-decision victory, Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis back in 1999.

While the first contest was for the undisputed title, this time around, all the belts will not be up grabs after the Ukrainian superstar vacated his IBF title not long after the fight. Fans are still one day hoping to see Fury face Joshua in the ring to determine who is the best British heavyweight of this century. In a recent interview with iFL TV, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn discussed a potential showdown between the pair.

“I think Fury vs AJ is the fight regardless, in all honesty," he said. "People keep saying to me ‘ah, AJ’s not rematching Dubois now’ — not true. AJ’s not fighting Dubois on Feb. 22, he still wants to fight him and AJ will return in May or June and that might be against Daniel Dubois, still the biggest fight out there for Dubois. But we also understand the Fury fight is a monster and it will always be a monster. Win or lose for Fury, I think those two should fight twice next year. But if Fury can do the business, that makes Fury vs AJ for the unified heavyweight title, and that would be huge.”

In a recent video uploaded to DAZN's official YouTube channel, Fury's promoter Frank Warren was asked what was on the line in terms of legacy for 'The Gypsy King' and Usyk ahead of their heavyweight dust-up, with 72-year-old replying: "What you read afterwards, people were saying that whoever won the fight was going to be the best heavyweight in the 21st century. the first unified champion, and they go up there with all the greats of the past. And I'm glad they said that because, at the moment, Oleksandr got the result, he won the split decision. If Tyson wins it, then that's where that mantel goes, that he is the best of his generation."

Despite Warren's confident words, Fury was quick to shake his head and seemed to shut down a potential fight with Joshua in the near future. "No Frank! There will be a rematch, a rubber match, trilogy," he said. "There's got to be! If he wins one and I win one, I can't say that I'm better and he can't say that he's better. There has to be a third one." Both Fury and Joshua have always been on a collision course, however, a fight has never come to fruition. The two stars were due to meet in 2022, but talks between the two teams collapsed.

Ahead of the sequel, many within the boxing community have called for Fury to switch up his team. However, the 36-year-old has insisted he won't be making any changes for the rematch. Speaking to Paul Dempsey ahead of the release of the new boxing game, 'Undisputed,' Fury was asked how much time he's spending about the plan tactically for the second fight with Usyk. "Not much time," he said. "I know what I've got to do, nothing drastic. People can say 'I want to change trainers or I'll blame it on me conditioning coach or I'll blame it on the cook or I'll blame it on the mouse next door.' Same team, same everything. I know what I've got to do."

He added: "I thought I won the fight last time. I give him, me boxing all my life and watching boxing me whole career, I give him rounds eight, nine and ten, and round nine was a 10-8. So that's what I give him out of the fight, but obviously the judges saw it a bit different, couple of them did. One of them had me winning. That's what it was. It was as close as it can be."