IBF Heavyweight Title: Fury Backs Martin to Beat Joshua
Tyson Fury believes Charles Martin will beat Anthony Joshua if the pair meet in April.
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn revealed earlier this week that he is in talks with IBF heavyweight champion Martin and his advisers over a world title bout between the American and Joshua at The O2 on April 9.
Martin (23-0-1-KO21) won the vacant title in January when he benefited from an early knee injury to Vyacheslav Glazkov and he has been 'calling out' Joshua in recent weeks.
And Fury, the WBA and WBO heavyweight champion, reckons Martin, 29, will back up his boasts by defeating Joshua if the fight happens.
"Charles Martin is not an easy fight for Joshua," Fury, who was stripped of the IBF belt in December following his victory over Wladimir Klitschko, told World Boxing News.
"If I had to put my money on it, I'd say Charles Martin stops Joshua as he's a 6ft 5in punching southpaw with combinations, who's not afraid of people just because they've got muscles.
"It's a difficult fight and this could be a banana skin pretty similar to Tim Witherspoon v Frank Bruno or Tony Thompson v David Price. They are the two that spring to mind for the heavyweights with the Americans coming over when it's supposed to be easy [for the British fighters] and then they get chinned."
Joshua, 26, has had 15 professional fights and has knocked out every opponent he has faced but Fury says the Olympic gold medallist showed "vulnerability" during his victory over Dillian Whyte in December.
"Eddie Hearn might be trying to cash Joshua in at the moment because he saw vulnerability as Dillian Whyte nearly had him out with a left hook. Maybe someone with a bigger punch and a bit more experience would have followed him up and got him out of there," added Fury.
"If I had landed that shot Dillian landed on him, he wouldn't have survived. Same goes for Wladimir Klitschko, David Haye or Deontay Wilder."
David Haye, however, expects Joshua to make short work of Martin after seeing the American in action and he has targeted an all-British showdown next year.
The Londoner, who returned to heavyweight action last month with a quickfire victory over Mark de Mori, tweeted earlier this week: "Just watched Martin and I predict AJ by early KO!
"Crystal ball tells me, myself and Anthony Joshua will clash in unification bout in 2017. Massive nights of boxing in UK over next 2 years!
"You have to admit once AJ wins IBF, Eddie Hearn should be truly commended for the perfect guidance of AJ's career. Credit where credit's due."