Tyson Fury Mind Games Continue With Latest Deontay Wilder-Anthony Joshua Comparison

Earlier this week, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed that top heavyweights Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will battle each other twice in 2021. Fury, being the showman that he is, has already begun playing mind games with future opponent.

During an interview with "The Lockdown Lowdown," the lineal and WBC world champ provided his own heavyweight rankings, and he actually has Deontay Wilder listed higher than Joshua. In fact, the Gypsy King went as far to say that Wilder would knock AJ out.

While many will view this as a shot at Joshua, this is also the ultimate form of respect towards the Bronze Bomber.

Fury knows firsthand how dangerous Wilder can be in the ring. He was destined to win their very first bout in late 2018 before the previously undefeated champion notched a clutch knockdown in the final round to earn a draw. Things really changed in their second fight in February, however, as Fury dominated his foe in a seventh-round technical knockout victory to assert himself as boxing's No. 1 heavyweight.

Yet, Fury can't sleep on Joshua, who won 21 of his 23 fights by knockout, one of whom being a popular 2017 Fight of the Year pick against all-time legend Wladimir Klitschko. This is not to mention that Joshua is much more of a refined and technical boxer than Wilder.

Even though this is more of Fury doing his damnedest to sell these two superfights against Joshua, he does need to keep in mind the need to dispatch Wilder in their trilogy fight, which could come later this year. So far, so good for the always-entertaining champ.