TYSON FURY reckons a fight with Anthony Joshua didn’t come to fruition because he was going to “spank his little ass.”
WBC heavyweight champ Fury handed AJ a shock world title lifeline in September, challenging the Watford warrior to a December Battle of Britain.
Joshua publicly accepted the offer, which came in the wake of his loss to Oleksandr Usyk, although hasty negotiations over the long-awaited domestic dust-up failed to bear fruit.
But Fury firmly the Watford Warrior ducked him, telling BoxingScene: “He’s a coward.
“If Joshua was gonna fight me, he would’ve took like $40 million to do it on the 3rd of December.
“And instead, he s**t himself and run away like a little b***h.
“But I don’t blame him because I was gonna spank his little ass all over the TV.
“And he wouldn’t have been able to walk around with his muscles and all that s**t.”
Fury believes Joshua is content with suffering a split-decision defeat to Usyk in their Saudi showdown.
The Gypsy King said: “He’s happy now that he can say, ‘I lost a split decision to a middleweight.’ He’s happy with that.
JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET A FREE £10 BONUS WITH 100s OF GAMES TO PLAY AND NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED (Ts&Cs apply)
“But if he gets carved up off the canvas, and you have to scrape him up with an egg flipper, he can’t walk around with [confidence] then because he’s absolutely destroyed.”
Fury, 34, will be back in action tonight in a Tottenham trilogy fight with Derek Chisora – whom he owns two wins over.
But he’s refusing to underestimate Del Boy, saying: “He [Chisora] done very well against Usyk.
“And may I say, who the hell is Usyk?
“People didn’t know his name until he beat the bodybuilder the other day.
“He was a little, small heavyweight who wasn’t going to do anything against AJ when Chisora fought him.
“But then he stepped up and beat the big bodybuilder and now all of a sudden, he’s the killer. I don’t think so.
“Listen, I rate Derek Chisora as highly as I rate Usyk, and I will train as hard for Derek as I will for any man in the world.
“If I didn’t, I would have to be an absolute idiot – I will not underestimate Derek Chisora.
“God forbid I got beat, it won’t be for the fact that I had an injury or I didn’t train hard enough, it would be the fact that I lost to a better man on the night.
Fury vs Chisora 3: Date, live stream and TV info for huge heavyweight bout
“We’re going to have a fight and that’s it. It’s going to be a good fight too, because he doesn’t shy away and I’m running nowhere, so someone is getting chinned.”
Joshua, meanwhile, is planning to return to the ring in “late March” – with a fight against former foe Dillian Whyte a distinct possibility.
