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Hughie Fury feels he can be the Ali to Anthony Joshua’s Foreman

Hughie Fury believes a future rumble with IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua would bear a resemblance to the night in 1974 when Muhammad Ali bemused and broke George Foreman in the Congolese jungle.

Twenty one year old Fury appears in a keep-busy bout on his couin’s World title undercard on July 9th in Manchester – and has his sights set on returning Joshua’s IBF title to the Fury clan once he fully recovers from acne conglobata.

“I think when Joshua steps up to a higher level he’ll come undone,” mused the unbeaten youngster

“Joshua knows he can hit, he knows he’s one-dimensional and his team know all he needs is a stationary target, guys who can’t move.”

“That’s why he looks good. That’s why he gets his knockouts. But put him in there with anybody who knows how to jab, move and actually box and I think he’ll look clueless very, very quickly.”

“Let’s go back to the time when Muhammad Ali fought George Foreman. Everyone said Foreman was going to destroy Ali. They didn’t give Ali a chance. But look what movement did to power that night – after a few rounds, Ali took control and made Foreman look clueless.”

Fury quickly clarified that “I’m not saying I’m Ali, and I’m not saying Joshua is Foreman, but I think the same thing would happen to Joshua if he fought me. He’d be left hitting thin air and would get frustrated and exhausted.”

While Fury [20(10)-0] will be happy to eventually pursue any of the available heavyweight titles, the former Youth World champion is unimpressed how IBF champ Joshua claimed his current belt, arguing that “Joshua’s got very good management and he’s on a good rise, but I don’t class him as a world champion.”

“He hasn’t fought anyone. He was gifted a belt. He didn’t win it. Tyson had the belt taken off him and then Charles Martin won it because some guy [Vyacheslav Glazkov] got injured.”

“The whole situation was a disgrace. It seems like anybody can get a belt these days.”

“”Charles Martin came over here, as a so-called world champion, took a shot, sat down and was smiling as he was counted out. That’s no World champion.”

“Even if you’re no good, you at least put up a fight and give it a go. Put your heart and soul into it. At least then you have a bit of respect for the guy. But for him to go out the way he did was pathetic.”

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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