Promoter Frank Warren insists that the proposed Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua heavyweight unification fight will only be "as competitive as Tyson wants to make it" in a SPORTbible interview.
Warren predicts that Fury will knock AJ out and says for evidence, you only need look at how he took the centre of the ring against Deontay Wilder in February, then dictated the fight to the big-hitting American.
"I'm telling you: he will do the same with Joshua - that fight will not go the distance," Warren claims. "I look at: who's the better boxer? Tyson Fury. Who's got the better chin? Tyson Fury. Who's got the better hand speed? Tyson Fury. Who's got the better jab? Tyson Fury.
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"And I've seen a lot of breakdowns where people say: 'Oh, Joshua's a bigger puncher.' But you've got to remember that Joshua turned pro later than Tyson did. He had all that amateur background. Tyson turned pro so young. Guys he went the distance with [early on], no way would some of them have gone the distance when he was in his mid-20s."
Warren's view that the 31-year-old Fury's KO power is underrated is backed up by how badly he hurt Wilder before stopping him in seven rounds. The promoter calls Fury's contest with AJ - provisionally agreed for 2021, but with both boxers supposedly having bouts to come through first - "the biggest British boxing event of all time".
"And I've been involved in big fights like Frank Bruno vs Mike Tyson," he adds. "But this would top it for the simple reason being it's two Brits, both world world champions.
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"One the lineal champ who's never been beat, while AJ has the belts he picked up after Fury vacated and he's a gold medallist in the Olympics. So the pedigree of both these guys is unbelievable!
"Everybody's got an opinion about who will win. I really believe my man [Fury] has got the beating of him. But it's the first time ever that the four heavyweight belts will be contested, so whoever wins holds all the titles together."
On top of that, Warren also believes he promotes the next great heavyweight who will be the "outright No 1 contender for the winner of Fury vs Joshua, by the time that's sorted out."
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The buzz around Daniel 'Dynamite' Dubois is certainly growing worldwide. The 22-year-old's keenly anticipated crossroads fight with his fellow undefeated Londoner Joe Joyce was one of the most exciting bouts postponed due to the pandemic.
Both now have warm-up fights scheduled at the BT Sport studios this summer. Providing the pair win, an October showdown follows.
"He's the most exciting fighter, at this stage of his career, that I've ever been involved with," says Warren when asked about Dubois. "Like Mike Tyson was exciting - he is exciting.
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"He's answered all of the questions up to now. He can punch. He's been hit and shown he can take a shot. He's very conscientious about training... I know I promote both of them, but I've said from the beginning that Britain's got a very good fighter in Joe Joyce: undefeated, an Olympian and so on. But I feel Daniel has the beating of him. He's that special."
Before then, Warren's Queensbury Promotions is putting on the first live UK fights in four months on Friday July 10. It's an exciting-looking British title scrap between super-bantamweights Brad Foster and James Beech.
A clever move, it would appear. US promotional powerhouse Top Rank returned in June with one of the sport's hottest young stars, Shakur Stevenson, fighting in an obvious mismatch. Utilising star power may have seemed smart - but with no crowd or razzmatazz, the one-sided nature of the fight stood out and reception for the show was poor.
Instead, Warren is holding his biggest stars back a bit and kicking off with a highly competitive 'trade fight'. It's the equivalent of restarting live football with a keenly-contested Championship game rather than broadcasting, say, Manchester City vs Dover Athletic.
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But there is yet another British heavyweight prospect on the card in what's proving a golden era for the big men in the UK.
David Adeleye, having just his second pro fight, is one of the boxers Warren highlights when asked to pick the next big star of the future from his stable.
"We've got some tremendous young kids," he says. "Dennis McCann, Ryan Garner and another heavyweight we've signed, David Adeleye. On the face of it, he's got the lot: huge frame, power, charismatic, good talker. Now he has got to put it all together and capture public imagination."
"A load of these youngsters are such good quality. Obviously Daniel Dubois is there - and I like young Dennis [McCann]. In some ways, his talent reminds me of a young Naseem Hamed. I've got a lot of time for the kid and he's doing everything that's asked of him."
With Fury, Joshua, plus Dillian Whyte, dominating the top of the heavyweight division - and so many superb young prospects - UK boxing was flying high until events in March ground everything to a standstill.
Now, with Warren bringing back his fighters back to BT Sport - and Eddie Hearn's stable returning to live action on Sky from August - British boxing's boom is getting louder and louder once again.
Go to Queensberry Promotions' YouTube channel for an incredible range of archive fight action, plus new and exclusive interviews
All imagery: PA Images
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Tyson Fury, Boxing News, Boxing, Fight News, Anthony Josuha
