Anthony Joshua wins first round against Tyson Fury with bombshell claim

At long last, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua stood side-by-side with the boxing world now counting the days until their Battle of Britain.

The giants of British boxing shared the stage at a rather cordial press conference on Wednesday evening, exchanging a few jokes and even discussing a few post-fight pints once the dust settles in Cardiff on 11 December.

Perhaps the most notable line from the evening was Joshua’s revelation that he has been in contact with Fury’s uncle Peter, who could have a role to play in his fight camp in the coming weeks and months.

‘I speak to Peter Fury,’ Joshua said. ‘He’s willing to help me as well. Me and Peter get along.’

Asked what sort of intel he might get from Fury the trainer, Joshua added: ‘Yeah, but not about Fury, but our training and our approach, how I can approach the fight. Not sort of, “Fury does this”; it was more, “I’ve seen what you do”, and this is where he thinks he can improve’.

Peter Fury trained ‘The Gypsy King’ when he famously conquered Wladimir Klitschko to win his first world titles in 2015. The two fell out soon afterwards and are not thought to have spoken in years. There has been no public mudslinging, no bitter war of words. But the relationship appears to have been non-existent for over a decade.

Joshua’s comments got a reaction out of Fury, who insisted there was no Corleone family-style treachery  in the family. ‘This is the biggest BS I’ve ever seen. No Fredo here guys,’ he wrote on Instagram.

There was also confirmation that Ben Davison will be Joshua’s lead trainer for this fight. Davison has previously worked with Fury with Josh Taylor, Leigh Wood, Fabio Wardley and Moses Itauma among the high-profile fighters who have placed their faith in the 33-year-old.

Davison’s methods came under the microscope in Itauma’s devastating defeat to Filip Hrgovic in August when the young lion punched himself out to the point of exhaustion midway through the fight.  

Davison’s role also came under scrutiny during Joshua’s brutal defeat to Daniel Dubois in September 2024, the last time the Olympian competed for major honours.

Davison retains the belief and backing of some of the country’s biggest names and will be by AJ’s side in December. He may also have some insider information to unleash having once stood in Fury’s corner, helping him as he returned to the sport after three years out of the ring in 2018. They worked together for five fights before Fury turned to Sugar Hill Steward, the man who has guided him ever since.

Fury vs Joshua – who won the press conference mind games?

According to body language expert Darren Stanton, AJ had a slight edge over Fury during Wednesday’s verbal sparring.

‘Tyson Fury is Tyson Fury. He has a real intelligence to him. He’s a very clued up guy. Very dedicated to his craft, very focused when he wants to be. He loves the limelight so he was never going to stay retired, and he was never going to pass up the spectacle of facing Joshua, and we see some good banter between the two of them, but that points to the path that can take Joshua to victory over Fury.

‘There is a mutual respect here, and that’s real, but I think Joshua is undermining one of Fury’s key strengths with his approach to his press conference, and this fight. Joshua is taking the sting out of Fury before a punch has been thrown.

‘Joshua talks about how both of them have been supported by the British public, and from a non-verbal perspective, Joshua looks fully in control. He really is cool, calm and collected. He’s self-assured. There’s no signs that he’s going into this fight to fail but he’s taking Fury’s favourite game away from him which is working the crowd, raising the temperature. This was an unusually good natured press conference, especially one including Tyson Fury!

‘However, Fury believes he’s the only one who will be the winner here too, but what’s interesting is that even with Fury there isn’t the same sort of arrogance and desire to project this character that we’re used to from him in the past. Maybe that too is Joshua’s strategy working. It should make for an interesting fight.

“Joshua knows he needs to defuse Fury, and he’s doing that well so far. Fury seemed a bit diluted. The laughter, the positivity, took him away from his usual areas of strength in these situations. I see no expressions or gestures of anger, contempt, neither man seems unsettled, and we know Fury likes to play with people. He tries to get in their heads. He’s psychological and strategic with it but it’s Joshua who looks like the master strategist based on this press conference.’

Stanton was speaking to OLBG.

Fury initially seemed taken aback about the Davison news. ‘Is it confirmed? Is he gonna have him?’

But the former WBC champion was then quick to shoot down suggestions of it handing his rival any advantage, insisting it makes Joshua look ‘mentally weak.’

‘Don’t forget I left Ben Davison to go with SugarHill [Steward] because he wasn’t good enough,’ Fury said. ‘And this is the same Ben Davison who Anthony Joshua left because he wasn’t good enough,’ Fury added, referring Joshua’s decision to briefly link up with Oleksandr Usyk’s camp following the Dubois defeat.

There were the usual taunts and promises of pain on Wednesday but it rarely felt venomous between the two legends of the sport who have now begun the final chapter of their careers. But there is plenty of time for that to change.

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