The much-anticipated upcoming heavyweight showdown between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua is the talk of the boxing town at present. With a total of five titles on the line, the exciting fight is expected to land in Saudi Arabia sometime in either July or August.
While both Tyson Fury, the WBC champion and Anthony Joshua, the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titleholder prepare for the super-fight that will determine the undisputed champion, there are a multitude of opinion which pit one above the other as the victor of the fight.
The latest to pick the Fury vs Joshua winner is none other than Claressa Shields and the undisputed female light middleweight champion is backing Joshua to earn the undisputed status as well.
While Fury has remained undefeated in his professional boxing career, Joshua’s only loss came when he faced off against Andy Ruiz Jr for the first time in June 2019, where he suffered a 7th round TKO defeat.
Interestingly, Shields believes that the loss to Ruiz has been pivotal in AJ’s progress as a boxer and has helped increase focus which will aid him potently against Fury.
AJ knows to over prepare, over focus, put boxing first: Shields explains why Anthony Joshua has an advantage over Tyson Fury
Speaking to VegasInsider.com in a recent interview, Shields did shed praise on Tyson Fury but pointed out the traits that Anthony Joshua possesses which can give him the edge over the Gypsy King.
“I think Tyson is great and a great opponent for AJ. But I’m on a roll with AJ,” Shields said in the interview, “I think he learnt a lot from the Andy Ruiz fight. I just think now AJ knows to over prepare, over focus, put boxing first. So I don’t think that he’ll be facing another defeat for a very, very long time.
Shields, who is slated to make her professional MMA debut at PFL 4 on 10th June 10, 2021 against Brittney Elkin, outlined AJ’s head movement, jab, body work and combinations to prove effective over Fury.
“…Tyson Fury is someone to be reckoned with,” the 26-year-old went on, “Tyson Fury got a great jab, good footwork, movement, he holds some power, but I just think AJ brings more to the table skillswise.”
“If AJ brings his A-game, focuses and uses all his skills; like I said, he’s going to need his jab intact, the head movement, the bodywork, everything in order to win that fight. Tyson Fury is going to have to fight his butt off too in order to beat AJ. I feel like AJ got a lot of heart, I see him get dropped by [Wladimir] Klitschko and get back up and I’m a huge supporter of him,” added Shields.
