Joshua: Fury can redeem himself from Usyk 'letdown' by facing me

Anthony Joshua has challenged Tyson Fury to face him in order to redeem himself from the "letdown" of his heavyweight unification bout against Oleksandr Usyk falling through.

Talks between Fury and Usyk recently broke down after it had appeared the two would agree to fight later this year, as negotiations between Fury and Joshua had done prior to that.

However, ahead of his clash with American Jermaine Franklin on Saturday, Joshua offered Fury the opportunity to renegotiate as he believes the Gypsy King "needs" him.

"There's no better time to get Fury in the ring than now because he needs me to redeem himself from this circus. This letdown," Joshua said.

"He needs me so there's no better time than for him to call my name out and I'm someone that will take on any challenge."

Two-time heavyweight champion Joshua lost back-to-back fights to Usyk and is looking to get back on track with a win against Franklin at London's O2 Arena, which will be his first fight since 2015 that has not been contested with a world title on the line.

April 1, live on https://t.co/QrnkfNQVNE pic.twitter.com/xSPQV1oyEN

— Anthony Joshua (@anthonyjoshua) March 21, 2023

Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn recently said: "If the Usyk fight doesn't get made, our message to team Fury is that we'll make the fight now, for straight after the Franklin fight," though AJ did concede he believes Fury and Usyk will eventually come to an agreement.

"It's not my position to slate or slag anyone off. I'm pretty sure [Fury v Usyk] will happen because I feel like there could potentially be a method to the madness," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"If, number one, I was in that position [and] didn't take that fight, how would people treat me?

"And number two, if I didn't take that fight what would Fury have to say about me? So I'm not going to stoop to that level.

"I respect everyone that steps into the ring. But I just sometimes think some people should watch their mouths a bit."