Manchester Evening News

Fury will be too good for Joshua says coach Lee

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TYSON Fury is mentally stronger than Anthony Joshua and would overcome his British rival in similarly commanding fashion to how he defeated Deontay Wilder, according to the WBC heavyweigh­t champion’s coach Andy Lee.

The Manchester fighter got his hands on one of the four major world belts again when he ended the American’s long reign as champion, knocking him down twice en route to a seventh-round stoppage in February.

While he is contractua­lly obliged to face Wilder for a third time and Joshua is scheduled to take on Kubrat Pulev next, the outbreak of coronaviru­s and suspension of major boxing shows has clouded the issue.

Speculatio­n is rife a domestic dust-up could take priority but Lee can only see one outcome in a fight which would determine the undisputed world heavyweigh­t champion.

“I think (Joshua) is still an improving fighter,” Lee said. “A little bit of inexperien­ce and mentally he’s not as strong as Tyson.

“I think Tyson would beat him in eight rounds.

“I like Anthony Joshua, I think he’s a great fighter, a great champion. I still think it’s a great fight and a great match-up and it’s the only real match-up in the heavyweigh­t division left for both guys, but I think Tyson wins in a similar fashion to what he did to Wilder.”

Such was the one-sided nature of the win over Wilder, Lee believes the former champion would be unwise to jump straight back in with Fury.

“Everything is in open play again, whatever fights were made before the lockdown kind of become null and void in that everything is up for renegotiat­ion again,” Lee added. “If I was in Wilder’s team, I would say ‘take another fight, maybe Andy Ruiz or somebody else, and get a win, get your confidence back up.”

 ??  ?? Tyson Fury
Tyson Fury

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