Tyson Fury has taken a dig at Anthony Joshua’s speech at a Black Lives Matter and believes he would have been ‘crucified’ for making similar remarks.
Joshua joined protesters at a park gathering in his hometown of Watford earlier this month but came under fire after a section of his speech was taken out of context and shared on social media.
‘Show them where it hurts,’ he said. ‘Abstain from spending your money in their shops and economies and invest in black-owned businesses.’
And Fury has now taken a swipe at his heavyweight rival, questioning his choice of words and lack of an apology, and has suggested it will cost him pay-per-view numbers going forward.
Asked about AJ’s speech, Fury told Behind The Gloves: ‘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.
‘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.’
‘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.’
Fury says he would never have made a similar speech because to him ‘colour does not exist’ and he has been subjected to anti-traveller discrimination throughout his life.
He added: ‘Good job it wasn’t me, and it never would be me because to me colour 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.’
‘Show them where it hurts,’ he said. ‘Abstain from spending your money in their shops and economies and invest in black-owned businesses.’
