Frank Warren believes that Tyson Fury’s win against Dillian Whyte proves he is a better fighter than Anthony Joshua.
Fury defeated his WBC mandatory challenger on Saturday night at Wembley Stadium with a sixth-round uppercut knockout, and has hinted he could retire, though there have been hints he might return to the ring for a unification fight.
That would almost certainly come against one of Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk, with the pair set to rematch on July 23 according to promoter Eddie Hearn. Usyk defeated Joshua back in September 2021 to win the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight belts, and a four-belt contest could be set up before the end of the year with Fury for the undisputed title.
Joshua and Fury had been due to fight last year before Fury was forced to honour an agreement for a trilogy rematch against Deontay Wilder, with the WBC champion winning decisively in Las Vegas in October.
Both Fury and Joshua have fought and beaten Whyte and Wladimir Klitschko, but Fury’s co-promoter Warren sees his man as the better boxer.
Speaking to IFL TV, he said: “When Tyson fought Klitschko, that was 18 months or two years before Joshua did, and he was a better fighter. And Tyson went over and done it in his backyard. He was based in Germany, his fights were all in Germany, he went and done it in front of 60-odd thousand fans, and went and took him to school in Germany, and he was the best heavyweight of his generation.
“You look how Tyson fought him, I mean, he never got a look in, Klitschko.
“Then you look at Klitschko against Joshua – if he’d had the legs that he’d had maybe when he was fighting Tyson, he might have finished Joshua. But he got up, credit to Anthony Joshua, he got off the canvas, took the fight back to him, but I think he could have stopped him, an old Klitschko would have stopped him.
“But anyway, did Dillian Whyte improve after fighting AJ? I think he did, and I think Joshua had a tougher fight with Dillian Whyte than Tyson certainly did, that’s for sure. Dillian Whyte’s fights with Derek Chisora? I think their first one, I thought Chisora just nicked it, I think the second one you know if Dillian didn’t clip him I think he was behind.
“Tyson beat him the first time, and the second time, he absolutely took him to school. In fact he done the same job on [Whyte] there. In some ways it was a bit like watching the early rounds of the Chisora fight, how he jabbed him and picked him apart. So I’ve got to say Tyson. People say I’m biased, everyone’s got the opinions, but I think anyone who knows a bit about boxing would think he’s had the better fights.”