Wladimir Klitschko has claimed that up and coming British heavyweight Anthony Joshua would beat Tyson Fury, despite only having fought 14 times in the professional ranks.
Fury is the mandatory challenger for Klitschko's WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles, with the two fighters due to meet in a rescheduled bout on November 28 in Dusseldorf.
However, the Ukrainian does not believe that Fury will pose him as many problems as Joshua would, nor as many as David Haye did when Klitschko convincingly beat the Brit in 2011.
Fury and Haye were due to fight two years ago, but the bout never happened as Haye was forced to postpone due to a cut over his eye before retiring from the sport altogether with a shoulder injury.
"David Haye would have knocked out Tyson Fury if that fight had happened," Klitschko is quoted as saying by PA.
"I fought David Haye and I've sparred Joshua and can tell you David Haye would have knocked Tyson Fury out if he had taken that fight. It was not easy [when I fought] David Haye. Haye was fast with his hands and footwork, it was extremely complicated to hit him.
"Tyson Fury is not a power puncher. He does not have power behind his punches, is it with combinations that his opponents are TKO'd? Anthony Joshua is still raw but improved a lot so I think he would [beat Fury], yes. He would win that fight too."
The Klitschko vs. Fury fight was originally scheduled for October 24, only for the defending champion to pull out with a calf injury.
Barney Corkhill
