Frank Warren boldly claimed that Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua wouldn’t be all that different from the Gypsy King Trilogy win over Derek Chisora.
On Saturday night, the WBC heavyweight champion of the world overpowered and stopped his old foe in a painfully one-sided beating.
Fury’s British co-promoter Warren and his American partner Bob Arum have come under fire for staging the fight, especially after failed attempts at a confrontation with AJ.
In response, Warren wrote in his post-fight column, “Even if Tyson was a convincing winner, I strongly believe it would have been a similar outcome had Joshua interfered.
“Derek has done better in this than Dillian Whyte in April and is clearly taking a better shot than Deontay Wilder.
“The bottom line is that Tyson got through this unscathed and now a huge 2023 is in store for the heavyweight division.
“Now we have to settle the final details of the fight against Oleksandr Usyk and then, all is well, Joe Joyce will come into play.
“I firmly believe that next year will be when the sport of boxing puts its best foot forward and returns to center stage, with the biggest and best fights in the works.”
Fury himself also hosted bouts with Usyk and Joyce in 2023.
“We hope to see the biggest year of my career,” said the Gypsy King.
“2023, we are going to have the big fights that the fans really dream of.
“First, let’s talk about Usyk.
“I’m ready, I’m ready to face Usyk next – whether it’s in Saudi Arabia or here in the UK. Both locations will be fantastic.
“And let’s give the fans a champion, a name, a face. Usyk is ready for the challenge. He came tonight, so fair play with him.
“He’s not an easy-to-understand boxer, he’s a skilled southpaw with very good skills, Olympic gold medalist.
“And he’s coming in good shape so I’m really looking forward to the challenge…
“I have a good feeling that this one is going to happen.
“But if that’s not the case for X, Y or Z reasons, then we’ll also have Joe Joyce at Wembley next year.
“But provided the Usyk one happens, then I’ll do it and then I’ll also have Joe Joyce at Wembley, why not?”