‘Give AJ a break’ – Tyson Fury’s father John Fury defends Anthony Joshua but hits out at his corner over Oleksandr Usyk defeat

John Fury has spoken out in defence of Anthony Joshua in the aftermath of his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night.

Britain’s unified heavyweight champion was outboxed and dethroned by the Ukrainian, who put on a magnificent performance to make history at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

Usyk’s speed, movement and accuracy troubled AJ all night long.

Joshua had moments of success throughout the fight, but could not maintain this for long enough to emerge victorious.

Usyk ultimately outclassed Joshua and had him out on his feet in the final round, with the bell saving AJ from being knocked out.

The scores were 117-112, 116-112, 115-113, crowning Usyk a two-division king of the world as the former cruiserweight champion took hold of the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles.

Defeat for Joshua has put his Battle of Britain fight against Tyson Fury further from reach, but the WBC champion’s dad, John, has always insisted his son would get the better of Joshua.

Fury Sr told BT Sport: “Listen he’s a very awkward man Usyk. Obviously he’d never fought anybody like that before.

“What he did need to do is adopt Derek Chisora’s game plan because he did a better job than what did.

“I thought if he used his weight a bit more and put a bit more devil in his work, it could’ve gone better for him.

“I was surprised because he’s a big dude.

“He might’ve lost too much weight, but what he needed to do was get all over him and put him under pressure. Not let him settle…

“When your plan ain’t working, it’s up to the corner to switch it up, and they never.

“They kept saying in the eighth round, ‘Be smart behind your jab.’

“It wasn’t working because he was in front of a master technician and he played Usyk’s game from the beginning.

“They didn’t try and change it – it’s his corner’s fault.”

Regarding critics of Joshua, Fury Sr added: “Give AJ a break.

“Because it wasn’t all AJ’s fault, it was his corner, they never had the brains to help him out of a sticky situation.

“You’ve got to know that the men in your corner know the fight game.”

talkSPORT will have live and exclusive radio commentary of Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder 3 from Las Vegas on October 9.