Tyson Fury appears close to announcing a warm-up fight before the biggest contest of his career, but former champion Duke McKenzie has named one man he should avoid.
Fury returned to the ring in April against Arslanbek Makmudov. The towering Russian was unable to penetrate the Brit’s defences and took a unanimous points loss at the conclusion of the 12 rounds.
It was the first win for Fury since back-to-back losses against Oleksandr Usyk in 2024, and showed that he still has many of the things that have made him a former two-time world champion.
Since then, it has been announced that he will fight Anthony Joshua later this year, but, with ‘AJ’ taking a fight beforehand, ‘The Gypsy King’ has been inspired to do so also. When he announced this, serveral heavyweights offered to step in with him, including former champion and Joshua rival, Andy Ruiz Jr.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, McKenzie was asked if there was any sense in the fight.
“No, there is absolutely no sense in it. Stylistically, Andy Ruiz is all wrong, isn’t he? He’s not 6ft 6 or however tall Joshua is. He’s not got long arms, he’s short, he’s diminutive and he’s a little pressure fighter. Stylistically, that fight is all wrong. What he does need is somebody tall and rangy. Joshua, I’m talking about, and Fury is going to have to go down the same road.”
Ruiz has promised a big return following another sustained period of inactivity. With his lastest result being a contested draw against Jarrell Miller, the Mexican-American is yet to reach the heights he did when upsetting Joshua back in 2019.
Joshua’s last outing was a straightforward six-round knockout of Jake Paul in November 2025. Following that, at the turn of the year, he was involved in a car crash in which he lost his two close friends and team members, so he has been taking time out to recover mentally and physically, but will take on Kristian Prenga next month.
