Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have signed to fight one another later in the year, and Johnny Nelson has assessed what to expect.
These two heavyweights have ruled over British and world boxing for more than a decade. Fury was the first to become world champion back in 2015 when he defeated the long-reigning and unified king Wladimir Klitschko out in Germany, but then took a couple of years away to deal with mental health and addiction issues.
In the meantime, Joshua became world champion, then unified three belts with wins over Charles Martin, Klitschko and Joseph Parker, only to lose to Andy Ruiz Jr. He regained the titles in the rematch before eventually succumbing to Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022.
That was a fate that also befell Fury after he regained his WBC belt from Deontay Wilder but was left without a strap after back-to-back fights with Usyk at the end of 2024.
After a year in retirement, he returned in April to beat Arslanbek Makmudov and call out Joshua once more.
Speaking on That Boxing Show, former cruiserweight champion Nelson was circumspect about the prospect of the two fighting one another at this stage in their careers.
“You’ve got to look at what both fighters have got. I think Tyson Fury’s legs and his reactions aren’t what they used to be. I think with Anthony Joshua, there is something missing, and especially with what happened in his life over the last few months, over the festive period.
“You’ve got to think how that has affected his hunger, his desire, his want. Is this fight about him trying to figure out do I really want this or not? We don’t know. There’s a lot of questions to be answered.”
