George Groves believes he knows the reason why Anthony Joshua hasn’t retired yet.
Joshua has been competing in the upper echelons of the heavyweight division for several years, reigning as a two-time heavyweight world champion.
Joshua has always eyed a fight with Fury, which could happen in 2025Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom
He will next face Daniel Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title, and has ensured fans he will continue fighting for a few years more while options are still available.
Throughout his career, Joshua has been in pursuit of a clash with Fury, and the pair could meet next if the ‘Gypsy King’ beats Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch in December.
And ex-super-middleweight world champion Groves believes that he believes he can beat Fury in a final bow.
He said on the latest episode of talkBOXING: “When you’ve been boxing for a while, when you’ve had those big fights – every fighter goes through a journey where it becomes a question of, ‘What am I in it for? What do I want it for?’
“And I don’t know what it is for Anthony Joshua right now. He was so adamant about becoming the [undisputed] heavyweight champion for so long.
“Talking about way back when it was gonna be against Wilder. And the wheels came off. I think it’s a win over Fury.
“As a fighter with a fighter’s mentality you’re thinking Joshua was the poster boy of British boxing, Fury wasn’t, Fury was the villain.
And then it turned so violently the other way, that can’t be nice to take. And Fury stands up and beats his chest and tells everyone he’s the people’s champion – there must be a large part of Joshua going, ‘What on Earth has happened?’
“And if he can finish his career with a win over Fury, even if it is at the tail end of both of their careers, he can say, ‘The one time we got in the ring together, I beat him.'”
Joshua has come so close to meeting Fury on several occasions, but the fight has collapsed including a proposed bout for the undisputed titles in 2021.
Groves believes Joshua is simply waiting for FuryCredit: talkBOXING
But a court arbitration forced Fury to sign on the dotted line for a trilogy with Deontay Wilder which collapsed the fight.
In 2023, Fury was set to hand Joshua an opportunity to fight for his WBC world title after AJ lost to Usyk for a second time but the two parties’ failed to reach an agreement.
Now in the present day, with the investment of Saudi Arabia, fuel has been added that the pair could finally meet.
The pair both have present tasks at hand and will be hoping they can both pull off huge victories, to put all the marbles on the line if they do meet.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn does believe that the fight will happen given the pair’s desire, even if they don’t win
“We will always kick ourselves if we don’t make Fury v AJ,” he told iFL TV.
“It hasn’t and now we have two mega fights coming up: AJ against Dubois on September 21 and Fury against Usyk on December 21.
“If both of those guys [Joshua and Fury] win those fights, you’ve got the biggest fight in the history of the sport by a mile.
“If they don’t [both] win, you’ve got a mega fight. Imagine if AJ wins the world heavyweight title and Fury loses, Fury can challenge AJ for the title.
“If Fury wins and AJ loses, AJ can challenge for the world unified title. And if they both lose, they can fight for bragging rights forever.