ANTHONY JOHUA vs Tyson Fury. A spiteful throwback rivalry with boxing's dark ages, or a secretly-scripted WWE-like ruse for selling tickets... or both.
The relationship between these two English giants was almost as thrilling as their individual rises to the top in the sport.
Tyson Fury stopped by Merbella last year to chat with Anthony Joshua
Fury and AJ Finchley ABC met 12 years ago. They gush about Fury's potential, personality, and uppercut.
Gypsy King also called AJ a big stiff idiot’ in the ten years since. He dragged up his criminal record as a wayward teen and dismissed him as 'just an ordinary bare bum at the shower' ripe to be slapping, and not more than a bodybuilder he was able to box rings around.
He also praised the WBA, IBF, and WBO kings.
Fury, the undefeated WBC boss at 33, has praised Fury for providing financial security for his family for generations, in a sport that he only started to play around 18.
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After the 6ft 9in ace shocked AJ with FaceTime calls he asked JJ about his son and wished Joshua a happy birthday.
Joshua is well aware of Fury's ability to confuse his opponents outside the ring as well as inside it.
When AJ is asked about flirting that sometimes occurs between them, AJ usually uses the phrase "He changes like weather,"
They met in Marbella, Spain. Fury and Paris pulled up beside AJ as they walked along the street. The conversation was dull and boring. Josh even admitted to saying hello to Mrs Fury.
while filming his ITV documentary.
This was not the line Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard's husband, had spoken to him before their 1980 sensational fight.
Juanita, poor Juanita, was allegedly told by Duran that her husband would be killed in the Montreal ring. The Duran would then take her to bed to celebrate.
Although Mr Hands of Stone tried to erase these quotes from history, Mike Tyson credits him with being the Alexander the Great of psychological warfare - and Planet's Baddest Man.
Fury is a different fighter than those two menaces. Most of their fights were won before the bell rang. However, Fury also considers mindgames an important part of his arsenal.
Wladimir Klitschko thought he was getting in the ring with a maniac when their 2015 Dusseldorf bout happened.
Fury had told a series of brilliant stories about Klitschko beating him in a sauna fight five years prior and Klitschko's legendary trainer Emanuel Steward wanting the Brit to join them, but not knowing how it would affect the Kazakhstan-born powerhouse.
A few months before their November fight, he arrived to a UK press conference dressed as Batman. He also faked a fight by adding an extra actor as The Joker.
Fury was a master manipulator when it came to Deontay wilder. He blasted away with praises and cajoling while sometimes thundering in a backhanded remark to throw his opponent off balance.
AJ has never had to deal with such a needle, but it has certainly made a difference in his life.
The Dillian Whyte rivalry was amazing to see and nearly cost AJ everything before he got started.
After a long build-up, AJ decided that he would trade with his Londoner friend and ex-amateur opponent. He was really confused before he was able to outgrow the Brixton man, who was, in 2015, expected to be a walking-over against the Olympic champion.
American pretender Dominic Breazeale tried to goad AJ. He was brutally punished six month later when Joshua demonstrated that he had learned how to keep a cool head under provocation.
Since then, AJ has had a long list respectful and foreign adversaries who have not shown any mean streak or used their language skills to ruffle his feathers.
Alexander Povetkin and Joseph Parker sang Joshua's praises. The build up to the 2018 triumph over Klitschko was almost too sweet.
Andy Ruiz Jr. did the same, even though he had just won a New York KO.
Ruiz Jr brought in Jarrell Miller to replace Ruiz Jr. He caused quite a stir in London when he arrived in 2019, making lurid, unfounded allegations about AJ as a drug cheat and a fake.
The Sky Sports episode, The Gloves Are Off, between the two was said to be so spiteful that it was never aired or released. This is a big deal in a sport where all publicity can be good.
Miller's list of doping bans from before and after the UK trip is laughable. Joshua should have known better.
Fury will not be surprised if these British heroes meet.
The clash in cultures would be thrilling as the AJBoxing brand - made up of marketing masterminds and backed by dozens of high-end sponsors - goes toe-to-toe with the no-nonsense Fury family comprised of fighting men like Fury's dad Big John and even-bigger-little-brother Shane.
The men could glance across the table at a friend who has signed up for a fight that will forever be etched in history and allow them to dress their great-grandchildren with designer clothes.
They could also drag out dark, long-glossed-over parts of their pasts and expose them for all to see in an attempt to get them to make a mistake after the bell rings.
We will never know if this is the case, as Fury insists on retiring after disposing Whyte. Fury may be open to a fight with AJ if offered. Let AJ get his belts back from Oleksandr Uzyk.
