Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to set up 'mega' fight, says Carl Froch
Tuesday 25 August 2020 06:05, UK
Carl Froch says he expects Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to set up a "mega" heavyweight unification fight by winning their upcoming bouts.
Dilian Whyte's stunning knockout defeat to Alexander Povetkin on Saturday has cleared the path for a potential all-British unification bout between Joshua and Fury.
- AJ-Fury can fight, but Whyte has WBC hope
- Heartbreak or hope? Whyte will rise again
- AJ: Where was Whyte's maximum violence?
Joshua is set to defend his WBA, IBF and WBO belts against IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev in December, while Fury is expected to complete a trilogy of fights against Deontay Wilder, who he beat February to claim the WBC title.
"I fully expect Tyson Fury to do the job against Deontay Wilder again," former super-middleweight world champion Froch told Sky Sports News. "I don't think Fury's in too much trouble against Wilder.
"AJ against Pulev - that should be a straightforward job. Not taking anything away from Pulev, but he's not a massive puncher - 28 wins, 14 knockouts.
"He knows what he's doing. He's a decent opponent, but I thoroughly expect Anthony Joshua to come through Pulev without too much of a problem.
"And then I'd like to see Fury and AJ get in there for a unification fight.
"I want to see a unification and then I want to see an undisputed heavyweight champion, and both of these guys are British, so it doesn't get much bigger than this. It's a mega-fight and I hope it does happen."
Fury had previously been ordered to defend his WBC title against Whyte, but the Brixton heavyweight's defeat to Povetkin has seen him lose his status as mandatory challenger.
Whyte appeared to be heading for victory against Povetkin as he dominated the opening rounds before flooring the Russian twice in the fourth, but a stunning uppercut sent the British fighter to the canvas in the fifth.
Whyte intends to enforce an immediate rematch with Povetkin and could regain his mandatory position, but the possibility of an imminent title shot has been lost.
"It was a shock defeat - one I was very upset about because Dilian Whyte has been waiting a long time for his world title shot," Froch said.
"He was in grabbing distance of it and obviously this fight against Povetkin was a big risk really. A lot of people were talking about how risky it was and it proved to be obviously far more risky than everybody thought.
"It was a great performance from Dilian Whyte. I thought he boxed really well from round one right through to round four.
"Let's be honest, it was a bad loss for him at a real pivotal point in his career, but I'm hearing he's got the rematch, hopefully before Christmas, and I'm hoping he can set the record straight and get the win this time."
