Fury: "Joshua once called me, wanted to intimidate me"

The confrontation between IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22 KO) and WBC champion Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21 KO) has sidelined, but Fury is still talking to his countryman. This time, he continues last week's theme about AJ's personality.

"His image is made by the media, AJ has been specially trained for that. His whole character is fake. I'm a defender of my people and he's in the shadow of my personality," Fury, who is scheduled to fight Deontay Wilder for the third time on October 9, said a week ago. Joshua will face WBO mandatory challenger Alexander Usyk on September 25. If the British giants win these very difficult bouts, at least in theory, they will open the way to the confrontation the entire boxing world has been waiting for.

"I definitely know the real Joshua. He's not a good man, he's the kind of guy who likes to intimidate people. He thought he would do that to me. I had the opportunity to see how the real 'Femi' (Joshua's childhood nickname, derived from his middle name - Oluwafemi - ed.) behaves," the Brit added.

"AJ called me the other day to tell me what he was going to do to me. It didn't end well for him. He didn't like what he heard at the end of the conversation. The truth always hurts. No one will scold me with impunity," summed up the Gypsy King.