'He picked himself up from rock bottom' - Anthony Joshua for the first time praises rival, Tyson Fury's mentality

Heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua, has for the first time come out to praise his rival, Tyson Fury’s mentality saying his battle with mental health issues, alcoholism, drug addiction and depression made him a better fighter.

Fury was away from the boxing ring for 30 months after winning four Heavyweight title belts following his 2015 massive win over Vladmir Klitshcko.

During that period, he almost drank poison, jumped off a bridge, took cocaine, became overweight, avoided his wife and kids but became a christian and started a remarkable journey towards coming back to active sports which resulted in his draw with then WBC champion Deontay Wilder in 2018 and his massive win over Wilder last month.

And Joshua who now holds the four heavyweight belts vacated by Fury five years ago due to mental health issues feels Fury’s break from the sport between November 2015 and June 2018 has made the Gypsy King an even better boxer.

Joshua, speaking on Lucozade Sports Running The Show Podcast said ‘Fury is very talented. Wilder is very talented. They went in there and gave their best and one man came out on top.

‘Maybe Wilder thought it was going to be an easier fight because Fury had a long lay-off and had his own issues outside of the ring and stuff like that.

‘They were both physically conditioned for the fight but sometimes when you have been at rock bottom where Fury was the only way is up.

‘You can’t actually go any lower than that so he picked himself up and only he knew how high he took his heights. You can only let yourself get to rock bottom again.

‘I think he was at his highest height that night so it paid off for him. Mentally he was at the best place possible and he just pulled off a great performance against a dangerous puncher.

Joshua plans to fight Fury this December as long as both fighters win their next fights.