WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has given his take on the recent speech that Anthony Joshua made at a Black Lives Matter protest in Watford.
Joshua, who holds the WBA, IBF, IBO, WBO world titles, came under fire from numerous fans over a certain section of the speech.
“Show them where it hurts,” Joshua said. “Abstain from spending your money in their shops and economies and invest in black-owned businesses.”
Joshua was fired up over the backlash, hitting back at accusations of being racist.
Fury on the other hand, believes that he would have been crucified had he made similar comments in a public setting.
He believes Hearn, had he been there in Watford, would have stopped Joshua from making those statements.
“I’m sure AJ has got his reasons why he said what he said, and its concern is none of my business what he said. That’s his own opinion and everyone to their opinion. Whatever his reasons were, he’s done it and it’s in the past so it’s moved on,” Fury told Behind The Gloves.
“I’m sure he’s apologized if he’s offended anybody- oh he actually didn’t, did he! He actually said if you didn’t like what I said, go f— yourself. So no apology necessary. Let’s just say, I’m not pushing knives in or pushing anybody when they’re down but if it had been me who said it, ‘Don’t shop in any black owned stores or any Asian owned stores’ or anything, or don’t buy from their businesses, then I’d have been crucified like Jesus Christ. I’ll just say that.
“The thing is with Joshua, he’s always got Eddie to talk for him and Eddie does all the media stuff and all that and he sort of just reads off a piece of paper. Even that speech he was reading, he read it off a piece of paper. Nothing is freestyle, everything is wrote out or planned. So during the lockdown obviously Eddie wasn’t with him when he did this, or else he’d have given him a right kick up the rear end.
“Because I think it’s cost him a lot of pay-per-views, figures and stuff like that, and it’s upset a lot of people because he’s supposed to be the poster boy, the role model, the ambassador and talks bulls–t like that. But it is what it is what it is. Everyone to their own. None of my concern, to be fair. Good job it wasn’t me, and it never would be me because to me color doesn’t exist, I’ve got the most diverse team in boxing.
“I’ve suffered racism all my life, 32-years-old in August, come from a travelling background, gypsies, hated racist people. It’s the only race that it’s sort of acceptable to be racist towards these days. Even the TV companies in this country are allowed to be racist towards travellers, it’s terrible. But I’m not a person who gives a damn about what colour somebody is or what background they’re from or whatever, because to me everyone is the same, it doesn’t really matter, it is what it is.”