Nigerian-born world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Olaseni Oluwafemi Joshua has come under fire from another British global belt holder, Tyson Fury, who opined that the man he is billed to tango in an unification bout next year got his speech wrong during the recent march against racism in Watford, England, megasportsarena.com reports.
‘AJ’ braved a nee injury he copped in training to make the march through the streets of Watford and ended up delivering a speech, which many people haled at that time in support of recent protests over the murder of George Floyd by policemen in USA, but Fury s now slamming that same public statement by his rival.
Fury argued that Joshua’s Black Lives Matter speech was full of contradictions and believes he would have been ‘crucified’ for making similar comments uttered by the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Organization (WBO) and International Boxing Organization (IBO) heavyweight champion.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, earlier disclosed that the 30-year-old boxer was upset by the criticism he got following his speech which was written by a friend, Reece Campbell, who he said was unable to attend the gathering but Fury, who has agreed to a two-fight deal to face Joshua next year, believes even AJ’s camp must have been angered by his rival’s words.
In part of his speech, which came in the wake of George Floyd’s shocking death at the hands of a police officer in the United States, Joshua said: “Show them where it hurts. Abstain from spending your money in their shops and economies, and invest in black-owned businesses.”
However, AJ’s comments provoked a furious backlash online, and Fury has waded in, claiming he would not have got away with saying something along the same lines and the fellow-British pugilist added: “The thing is with Joshua, he’s always got Eddie to talk for him and Eddie does all the media stuff and all that and he sort of just reads off a piece of paper.
“I’m sure AJ has got his reasons why he said what he said, and its concern is none of my business what he said. That’s his own opinion and everyone to their opinion. Whatever his reasons were, he’s done it and it’s in the past so it’s moved on. I’m sure he’s apologised if he’s offended anybody – oh he actually didn’t, did he! He actually said if you didn’t like what I said, go f*** yourself. So no apology necessary.
“Let’s just say, I’m not pushing knives in or pushing anybody when they’re down but if it had been me who said it, Don’t shop in any black-owned stores or any Asian owned stores or anything, or don’t buy from their businesses, then I’d have been crucified like Jesus Christ. I’ll just say that.”
Joshua posted a reaction on social media, stating: “If you think I’m a racist, go f*** yourself! If you watch the full video, the speech was passed around for someone to read and I took the lead. I personally spoke from the heart about the Watford community.
“(The) ideas of us personally investing seven figures to create unity and opportunities and adding change to the African/Caribbean community. Shops aren’t the issue here. Before you talk s***, you better boycott racism.”
