‘Why Joshua celebrated Fury’s defeat of Wilder’

Anthony Joshua was secretly ‘happy’ Tyson Fury got the better of Deontay Wilder last month, former UFC heavyweight champion, Frank Mir believes. Fury won his eagerly-anticipated rematch with the American in emphatic fashion in front of a sold-out crowd at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena.

‘The Gypsy King’ put on the most dominant performance in recent heavyweight title history to claim the WBC heavyweight belt, which he ripped from Wilder’s clutches with a seventh-round TKO victory.

Victory over Wilder saw Fury become a two-time heavyweight champion and move a step closer to his long-awaited Battle of Britain with Joshua.

According to Express.co.uk, Joshua has made no secret of his desire to share the ring with both Fury and Wilder, the latter of whom he’s been engaged in a war of words with for nearly the last two years.

Mir, however, believes the unified heavyweight champion is glad Fury won his multi-million-pound rematch with the previously-undefeated Wilder.

And the current Bellator heavyweight has formed that belief due to Joshua’s lack of mobility and ability to slip shots in comparison to his WBC counterpart.

During an interview with the Sportsman, Mir, 40, said: “I actually think that AJ was happy that Fury beat Wilder.

“I think Wilder is a horrible fight for AJ, he couldn’t avoid the right hand like Fury does.

“Look what happened to Luis Ortiz, if you get caught with it, you’re going down.

“Wilder has the reach and has the strongest right hand that’s ever existed.”

Before Joshua and Fury can finally share the ring, the pair must first get through their respective bouts against Kubrat Pulev and Wilder.

Joshua, 30, is tentatively scheduled to defend his unified heavyweight titles against the Bulgarian on June 20 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The coronavirus outbreak, however, could see the bout delayed until July 25 or a later date.

Fury’s trilogy fight with Wilder was initially slated to take place in Las Vegas on July 18.

The pair’s third meeting, however, has been pushed back until October 3 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

And the postponement of Fury vs Wilder 3 has prompted the WBC king’s British promoter Frank Warren to rule out an end-of-year unification fight with ‘AJ’.

When recently asked if the delayed Wilder fight means Fury won’t fight again 2020, the Queensbury Promotions chief said: “Exactly. That will push that back to some time in February if that is the case.”