Tyson Fury expects Usyk to retire Joshua in rematch

Tyson Fury believes Oleksandr Usyk will send Anthony Joshua into retirement this summer.

Last September, Usyk outboxed Joshua over 12 rounds to capture three of the four major heavyweight titles at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. A rematch is in the works for June or July.

Fury, who captured the WBC title with a seventh-round stoppage of Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas to become a two-time heavyweight titleholder, expects Usyk to beat up Joshua badly to the point the 2012 Olympic gold medalist will hang up the gloves permanently.

“Here’s how it goes. You’ve heard it here first. He’s going to get busted by Usyk in the rematch - if he even has the guts to take it. Then he’s finished, career over. Three losses, goodnight Vienna, got beat by a middleweight, move over," Fury told The Sun.

England's Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs), who defends his WBC title for the second time on Saturday against Dillian Whyte at London's Wembley Stadium, added that Joshua could have spared a possible second beating by accepting a step-aside deal that would have allowed him to challenge Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship.

There was an agreement in principle for both Whyte and Joshua to forego their planned bouts with Fury and Usyk in exchange for millions of dollars, but the deal dell apart after both parties sought an impractical amount of money.

“He had the opportunity to make it all go away and let me take care of his dirty washing and pay him money to do it, but he didn’t because greed got the better of him," Fury said.

“They thought I was a desperate man and that I wanted to fight for the undisputed title that much that I’d give away everything. The demands these people were making were ridiculous. Out of every negative situation, something positive has happened and I’m smiling now like a Cheshire Cat.

“I couldn’t give one flying hoot sniff about that [Joshua] fight not happening. About that bodybuilder, I have no interest. When he was an unbeaten man, not a problem, when he was a champion, not a bother, but now he has nothing to offer. What did he say years ago? I only want to fight the people who have the belts. All of a sudden, he doesn’t have any belts.”