Angel Fernandez, coach of ex-world champion British heavyweight Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22 KOs), shared his opinion on the current situation in the heavyweight.
On August 20, in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), his ward lost for the second time in a row to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs). Despite this,
Fernandez does not believe that Usyk is able to beat the owner of the WBC belt Briton Tyson Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs): “He will definitely create problems for Fury. But I believe that Tyson will find an opportunity to snatch a victory. He’s too big, tall and handy. I don’t think Usyk can beat Fury. But in heavyweight everything is so unpredictable. That’s the reason this division is so interesting.”
Fury called Joshua outright yesterday due to Usyk being injured. Fernandez would have preferred to have an intermediate fight first: “The task is the following. Joshua needs to be restored first, then hopefully we get a fight with Fury. God willing, we will finish this cycle with the third fight with Usyk.
The mentor admitted that they have not yet decided on the next opponent: “I think we will first list possible opponents, and then we will finally decide. But I think it should be a fighter from the top 10. Joshua will recover. He still has work to do in the gym. He will fight 2-3 fights. During this time, we’ll see what happens with Fury and Usyk. And then we will try to negotiate with them. Maybe sometime at the end of next year.”
It is possible that everything will happen differently: Joshua gave the go-ahead for the fight with Fury. And Andy Ruiz wants a third fight with Anthony: “We have unfinished business.”
