“I sparred with the ABA champion. He’s red hot, him. He’s excellent,” Fury said.
Fury explained that he had expected a controlled session but was caught off guard by Joshua’s intensity.
“He rushed out at me, then, bash, he hit me with a right uppercut right on the purpose of my chin. If I’d have had a little bit of a weak chin, I’d have been knocked out for a month,” Fury said.
He went further when reflecting on the complete spar.
“I class myself as top-of-the-line heavyweights on the earth and he got here at me for 3 rounds and he gave me a beating,” Fury said. “I’m not going to disclaim it. He gave me what for, hell for leather for 3 rounds.”
Fury was quick to separate sparring from knowledgeable fight but still acknowledged Joshua’s level on the time.
“I tell it prefer it is. If the child was no good, I’d say it. But he is sweet, and I’ll tell anyone that he beat me up in sparring.”
The clip has circulated again after Joshua referenced the session during a recent face-off, bringing the long-standing story back into focus.
The version of Anthony Joshua from the ABA days was a physical specimen with a “seek and destroy” mentality. Back then, he hadn’t yet developed the more cautious, technical approach we’ve seen later in his profession.
At 21, Fury was still finding his man strength. His shots were often flicking and aimed toward creating hesitation relatively than causing damage. For a young, hungry Joshua, those slapping shots were just an invite to shut the space.