Tyson Fury: I Would Flatten Anthony Joshua or Charles Martin

By Edward Chaykovsky

IBO/WBO/WBA heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18KOs) is confident of his chances to blow away Olympic gold medal winner Anthony Joshua (15-0, 15KOs) or heavyweight champion Charles Martin.

Joshua is set to challenge Martin for his heavyweight crown on April 9th at the O2 Arena in London.

Fury held the IBF title briefly after stunning division king Wladimir Klitschko by unanimous decision last November in Germany.

Fury was stripped of his IBF belt for his failure to make a mandatory title defense against Czar Glakov. Fury is bound to a contracted rematch with Klitschko and is unable to take any interim bouts. Martin (23-0-1, 21KOs) stopped Glazkov in three rounds in January. Glazkov was losing the fight but also suffered a leg injury in the third round of the contest. 

Fury was ringside to watch Martin's title winning effort at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Fury is caught in the middle on the upcoming fight. Part of him wants Joshua to win because a future unification would be massive for the UK, but another part of him wants Martin to win because the two of them are friendly with each other.

In the opinion of Fury, both Joshua and Martin are not ready for elite level of the heavyweight division.

"It will be huge in this country for sure. If he wins - or whoever wins - I will fight them next. I hope Joshua wins because of the money and Martin because he is such a nice guy. One thing I do know is when the fight happens between Joshua or Martin, I'll introduce them to big-time boxing. I will say: 'Welcome to big-time boxing' to either of them. Once I've flattened them," Fury told Sky Sports.