Anthony Joshua reignites Tyson Fury feud with taunting message to British rival

Anthony Joshua hit out at “dippy” Tyson Fury and seemingly tried to goad his heavyweight rival into a long-awaited all-British showdown.

Joshua is back in training following elbow surgery but is not expected to return to the ring until early next year, having last fought 12 months ago when he was viciously knocked out by Daniel Dubois.

The 35-year-old is keeping abreast of the current landscape in boxing’s blue-riband division and commended former opponent Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley, who will meet on October 25 at London’s O2 Arena to put themselves in pole position to challenge undisputed world champion Oleksandr Usyk.

However, Joshua also reignited his long-running feud with Parker’s training partner Fury and seemingly remains optimistic they will finally fight each other in 2026, despite the self-styled ‘Gypsy King’ retiring from boxing in January.

“I can’t lie, I’m proud of Joseph Parker,” Joshua wrote on his Instagram story. “Even though he is a competitor, real recognises real.

“He’s in the game to fight whoever, whenever and that’s the DNA of a real general. Unlike his dippy mate Tyson Fury. I would dissect his career/record in minutes but I’ll leave that for a potential Gloves Are Off if he ever comes back and fights (me).

“Fabio Wardley, respect to you as well. (You were) working in recruitment helping your dad get a job a couple of years ago. Let that be a testament to God rooting in one’s favour and a statement to show, nothing is impossible (if you can have a scrap haha).

“To my supporters, I’ll be back to lace up my boots and put on my gloves sooner than later, hopefully punching Fury’s head in and dancing around his flicker jab with ease.”

A meeting between Joshua and Fury, two of the country’s biggest sporting figures, has been mooted for a number of years, particularly when the duo held all four major world titles between February 2020 and September 2021.

A deal was seemingly struck in 2021 but a US arbitration judge ordered Fury to defend his WBC title against Deontay Wilder then Joshua lost his WBA, IBF and WBO crowns to Usyk later that year.

Joshua was also beaten in the return bout by Usyk and the Ukrainian has in the last 18 months twice outpointed Fury, who announced his latest retirement at the start of the year following his twin defeats.