5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce - Fury Wins. Joshua Weighs In

Episode Date: July 25, 2026

Tyson Fury has done his bit, now it's over to Anthony Joshua. Carl Frampton joins Buncey after Fury's win in Thailand, while AJ weighs in ahead of his fight with Kristian Prenga in Saudi Arabia. They discuss Joshua's final face-off with his opponent, what they made of his demeanour, and whether the long-awaited showdown with Fury is now within touching distance. Plus, we hear from someone who was ringside in Pattaya for Fury's victory.

This is Five Live Boxing. So Tyson Fury did what he had to do to keep his end of the deal in Pottaya in Thailand. Now it's Jeddah and it's Anthony Joshua. He has to get with a Christian Pranger to stay on track for a British super fight. AJ against Fury, we're just one fight away from that being secured. I'm Steve Bunce and this is Five Live Boxing. So the moon is out, it's pitch black, it gets that way. in Saudi Arabia. When it's dark, it's dark. There's no dusk. Bang, it's dark. Now, we have to talk about

obviously Anthony Joshua. We've talked about that big fight and I've gathered a fine cast. Paddy the producer is obviously here. It's late at night, but I don't care. And Carl Frampton is here. Now, Carl, before we talk about this fight, we'll have to look at a, we're going to hear from someone who's ringside for Tyson Fury. We fought a few hours ago in Pataya in Thailand. I've got to ask you about last night because it turns out that you went out with Barry Jones for a Hubble bubble, normal thing, so about 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning.

Barry decided to walk home. You decided to walk home via a kebab shop or a burger bar or something like that. And then I'm reliably told that you were involved in a situation. Now before we move on with a pod, I need to know exactly what happened and what happened. And what was said? So it was a strange confrontation.

Very strange. So me, Adi, Aladipo, he was there to. Barry Jones, went for a shusha. On the way back, I fancied a burger. The boys didn't. So they walked on the hotel. Now, the place we were at is about 600 metres away from the hotel, so no distance at all, really.

The boys went on, I got my burger, coming back on my own. And these four guys, right, three of them didn't say a thing, but one of them, who was about my height, maybe a little bit taller. so for people that don't know that's... Locals. Yeah, local kid. About five...

He was probably at five... I'm five-five-five, so he was five, six, five, seven. Something like that got. Quite stocky. And he called me over and says, I thought he was trying to sell me something. And then he says, and a voice as calm as this,

do you want to have a fight, brov? And I was like, what? So he braved you off at two o'clock in the morning and asked you for a fight? And I said, well, what, a fight? Like me and you have a fight? He said, yeah, do I?

Quick fight. Was he shaping up a little bit? He kind of... Not really, but he was standing like he was proud. He wanted to have a fight. And I kind of went, but me and you, and he said, yeah, let's go. Quick fight. And I said, it wouldn't end well for you, mate.

And just turned and walked away. And then he called me a bad word that'll not say on this. But if you think of a cat, that was the word he said as I walked away. And not kitten. I'm not kidding, yeah So I'm just I was raging

My blood was boiling And I just kept walking I was all my own Not that I was afraid of the lad Because I Oh do you have a free They were with it No they didn't say anything

And they were a bit younger So this kid I think it was In his early 20s They were maybe 18 19 Something like that Yeah I just walked away But I was fuming and said

I was thinking Just because of where I am Yeah I started to think If I chin this lad I might go to jail for the rest of my life. And who is he? You don't know who he is. He could be someone very wealthy, his young son or cousin or nephew.

Absolutely no idea. The straint, and he was calm the whole way. He didn't shout, just wanted the whole fate. And let, can I ask you one, and we will get to talking about Joshua and Pringham, and obviously a little bit on Tyson Fury. We'll hear from Tom Ivers, who's been in Pataya. We will go on to that. But could I ask you what the reaction was with the people that you work with?

And I'm talking specifically about Tony Bellew, and Barry Jones. I'd like to know what their reaction was. Barry got angry today. I could see him when I was telling him a story, for some reason his fist was clenched. It started to clench as it was talking to him. And Big Tony wants to go back to the burger spot tonight

in case we see him again. I'm sorry, I should have laughed. It's a ridiculous story. I've calmed down. I don't want to be fighting people. But we've been in Belfast at 3 in the morning. You and I have rolled out of places at 3 in the morning We've been in we've been in Cardiff

We've been all around the world We've been in some hotspots We've been in Glasgow We've been in the worst part of Manchester And we've never had any trouble You're in Jeddah One of the safest places in the world And some guy wants to knock you out

And then insults you should walk away Yeah it was It was the worst That 10 seconds is a walk away after he said it I've never felt anger like it in my life But I just kept walking Oh, cough Thanks for sharing that.

Carl, we are going to talk about AJ because obviously he's waiting tonight in the fights and we're getting closer and closer to it. But we've got to talk quickly about Tyson Fury. Not sure if you're seeing it. It wasn't officially streamed anywhere his fight in Pataio against Marius Vak. What it was, of course, was it was

it was filmed for his reality TV show on Netflix and they don't even have a release date for the series three, which is what it'll be part of. But there's enough clips floating around. After seven rounds, Marius Vak retired on his story. stole. So he earned his money, the big lad.

Tyson Fury looked. I've seen a couple of clips. He looked in decent enough shape and he got the job done. Is there anything you can take away from what you've seen or what you've heard from people that were there? I don't think so. Well, first of all, I haven't really seen the fight. I've seen a couple of clips. But I mean, I think the reason for Tyson having this fight was, like, you're talking about him and AJ next, obviously. But there's no resemblance at all between Marius Fack and Anthony

Josh. When you're going to fight, when you're talking about fighting someone after a fight, you're kind of try and match

up their style. Don't you know have some with a little some sort of similarities anyway. Zero between VAC and AJ. So I think it

was just a case of Fury. He's been out of the ring quite a well up until his last fight. It's two back-to-back camps.

It probably doesn't go to be in a camp environment and I think that's all it was. Yeah, he seems to love and thrive out there in Thailand. Now we sent our

correspondent, Tom Ivers, all the way out to Bataya well of course we didn't and he might tell us that in a second because I'm delighted to say that Tom joins us now Tom I'm not quite sure what you were expecting but what did we get Hi Steve yeah so Tyson Fury is one here in Patea Thailand it wasn't vintage Fury he wasn't at his very best but it was

it was what it was always going to be really it was a glorified spa you know Wack looked old he looked heavy he came in £290 pounds and he looked every year of his 46 years. Fury was just playing with him at times, jabbing, moving, Wack never really throw anything back. But when he did, he did land. Tyson just, although he won every round, he was cheering to the crowd. And the crowd loved it. They battled through heavy, heavy rain to get here, 15,000 in the arena, but just not quite vintage Tyson Fury. Obviously, the win, that's what he needed. And now he looks to set up that date with anti-Joshova but I think if AJ was here he'd be a very happy man because that was not the best

Tyson Fury we've seen well I know one thing Tom it sounds terrific in there I can hear all sorts of screaming and shouting the crowd was fantastic but I've got to ask you this there's been a reluctance all week from both of the boxers to talk about their fight can you give me an update come on Tom give me an update so all week both Fury and AJ really they haven't wanted to speak about each other Fury got a little bit annoyed at some reporters for kept on up keeping on him about AJ. He said, I've got to get past whack first, but, you know, he was asked the question in the ring. Is AJ next? And he said, look, I've passed my test. Let Anthony Joshua pass his test. And then AJ has to pass the biggest test of all, and that's getting in the ring with him. And he really

doesn't think that AJ will ever do it. I'm not too sure why. He just says he cannot picture him across from at a press conference. He doesn't think he'll ever actually sign for the fight. So yeah, let's see what happens tomorrow. But, you know, all being well, Anthony Joshua would, on which Joshua should win and I think we'll see you next. Tom, thanks for that, but now I've got to ask you the really important question. Don't worry, it's not about a soap opera or Love Island or anything like that. I know Tyson Fury said he's not coming here. But will he come to Jeddah?

Will he jump on a private jet and be here? Come on, Tom, tell me. Yeah, all week he said I'm going back home to the Island man and he was asked again in the ring there. Are you going to Saudi? A few of his team members are going over, so it's definitely doable. but he said, look, I'm going home. Who knows, but I, look, you know Tyson Fury a lot better than me.

You've been around him for a lot longer than me, but I think we'll see him there tomorrow. I don't think he can resist getting in the ring with Anthony Joshua and really, really kind of sticking it on him. Tom, we'll let you go. We know you've got 17 Mai Tai fights and seven other fights to cover there before you finally get off work. Tom, by the way, works for boxing scene.

So there you have it, Carl. Tom thinks that Tyson Fury will be here. Tyson Fury says he's got to be here. to go home, do the laundry, do the ironing and be with his wife because he's got to go and face her. Do you think he's going to jump into the ring at the end of AJ's fight? What's your gut feeling? Well, look, I kind of hope so. Yeah, I hope he does.

But, I mean, I'm not sure, to be honest. I think Tyson's one of these guys that just does what he'll not be told what they do. And I think that's part of the issue. It's almost like people are telling me to go to AJ's fate in Jeddah after my own fight. like no and I'm sure he says it another way which isn't as pleasant as that

yeah I said it several times another way so he I just think he doesn't like being told what to do so I would love him to be here will he be here hopefully yeah it is a great end to the fight assuming AJ gets rid of Christian

Pringle like most people seem to think and we'll talk about what we think might happen if at the end when they're in the ring suddenly there's a commotion at the back of the hall and fury comes to the ring surrounded by six or seven people, it would outdo most WWEE entrances

and that would be a phenomenal confrontation. I think so. It'll be... Great TV. Yeah, it'd be brilliant TV. And this is what this... Boxing, I suppose it's always been a bit like this, Bonsie, and you've been around some huge names and

big fighters before I was even born. So there's always been a bit of pantomain, hasn't it? But it's a lot... It's a different level. Lee's there, as I imagine, is that right? Yeah, it is a different level. It has been taken to a different level. But then we have to remember that the great Muhammad Ali

based his entire act on a rest of called Gorgeous George. The Gorgeous George wore a white robe down to the floor and had long blonde hair. This is in the early 60s. And there's this famous story where Ali and Gorgeous George are doing a radio show. So, you know, somewhere like New York or Philadelphia or Boston. So they get there and Gorgeous George is in his outfit, but he shakes hands with Cassius, Clay as he was and you know Cassius is you know a bit in awe because he knows who

gorgeous George is he turns out he's a wrestling fan and gorgeous George is a really nice guy is really straightforward it's all very low key anyway to get into the studio soon as it's lights camera action gorgeous George is jumping up in here and I'll and Clay's just looking at him in amazement so he took he said I'll have a bit of that so if you think about it there's not dissimilar to what Arlie did and actually took it from a wrestler gorgeous george and Tyson remember he was these Tyson's first appearance you know where I'm going with this. Tyson's first appearance in Saudi Arabia

was when he was involved in a massive WWE. I think that was in Jeddah about 10 years, 8 or 9 years ago, probably 2016, when he actually had a fight. So he's well and truly in touch with that wrestling side. So let's say he may come, he may not come. Let's deal with a fight. Let's have a little quick word about Christian Prairie if we can.

Let's have a little quick word about him. I've seen him this week. and I saw him five weeks ago in London and I think he looked a bit didn't look as comfortable this week as he looked five weeks ago in London. Yeah, I would, you know, that's normal, isn't it?

Yeah, of course it is. And when you have someone like AJ, I mean, he's a specimen, isn't he, the size of him? He's just a brute of a man. By the way, just to let people know, keep records, he was a pound lighter than he was

when he thought Daniel Dubois, but he was eight pounds heavier than when he thought Jake, last year. 251 pounds, 18 stone 1. That's kind of maybe optimum weight for AJ for those that are wondering. But he looks slim and you know what I mean by that.

It can be the same weight but looks slim. He always does look good but he just, I don't know. He just looked really good. And I think I like his demeanor this week. I like how Zan he's been. But Pranga, for me, this week has looked nervous. Yeah. But tonight he looked okay, I thought.

I think that was partly down to the Albanian crowd over there. They were making a bit of a racket. And he made it, he said a great line, brilliant line. You know, you like the impressions, Bonsie, so I'm going to try and do an impression of what he said. He said, talking about the crowd and his fans, you cannot go to war without an army, and this is my army. Get in, son.

That's great, absolutely brilliant. Do you know what? That was South Albanian. That was South Albanian exactly where he's from. I've actually picked up the dialogue. I've broken the dialogue down. See, people don't respect what I do, you know. I love the lane though

and do you know what I thought because I had a passionate farm base myself I would have loved they've used that at one point but it just wasn't

Oh you would have used that line wouldn't you? Oh I loved it loved it You could going forward not doing the Albanian accent

slip it in because you could see you could do a talker you could say yeah and that's what I like because you know what a man can't go to war

without an army and I had an army then they would applaud for five minutes I said it last night to the local Yeah I should have you

Well hold on Panny's making himself a bit busy Hold on a second. Patty, you know what? Patty said to me earlier on and he said, he said to me,

they said, when we finished doing the pod with Frampton tonight, this is before we'd seen you. He said, we'll go out for a hamburger. Since he's found out that Rocky,

Rocky of Jedders hanging out by the, looking to knock people out by the hamburger, he said, we'll get room service. So he's making himself a little bit busy

if you don't mind me saying. He had an army, he had four, it was only one of me. Yeah. But wouldn't he ended well if I'm saying. Wouldn't have ended well for him?

I love that line. So Carl, Let's have a look at AJ. You know, you said he's slightly Zen, and that's a brilliant line because earlier this week, I'd said that he just looks like he's come from a meditation table,

so we're in the same arena, and that's me looking up close into his face. How does AJ win the fight, and what does he have to do? To win it and look good is the rest of that sense. I mean, if he wins on points, I don't think it's good enough, you know what I mean?

I mean, I was saying that, maybe that's a bit harsh. I think we have to remember it was only six months ago we had the horrific accident six months at a point after I didn't think he would ever fight again

I'm supposed to ask you because I didn't either and I've held my hands up I didn't think we'd see him in the ring again So the fact that he is shows that he's mentally an extremely tough man physically he's obviously very very tough as well

but I think he needs to get rid of this guy and I think he will and I think he'll get rid of him early I think how I see it going is he'll have a look in the first round get behind the job and then round two I think he'll take him out

Pranga if you look at Pranga this is a type of fight AJ needed after the horrific incident that happened he needed a fight like this just to see where he is

in his career and just where he is as a man and fighter he has to beat him well if you look at Pranga's record I don't know there's not one recogniz I don't know anybody's fought. Well, if you do a little

deep dive, there's three or four that you can link to other fighters. But nothing jumps out. No, I didn't recognize. No, I didn't recognize any names. But he knocks them out. Yeah, yeah, you should do what you do.

There's very little footage of him, but the footies that I have seen online is he tries to block a lot of shots with his gloves, so hands high and tries to take them on the gloves, two hands up around. That is the wrong thing to do against AJ. You can't, you can't, if it gets half through,

you might get knocked out. So I just think he'll have a look and I'll take him out and round two. And also, you know, we sometimes forget with AJ. He went to the European Championships as an amateur. He went to the World Championships, reached the final and he reached the final and won a goal medal.

As a pro, he's had 30, you know, whatever it is, 33 fights. He's had all of those world title fights, all of those big fights. He's guys with a lot of different styles. He knows just that much more than we maybe ever give him credit for. You know, and he can soften him up with shots,

bring his elbows down hook and throw shots over. I think he throws really straight, straight shots, really straight shots, really big shots. And I don't think we'll see a performance like we saw against Jake Paul where there was a degree of hesitation. He didn't want to embarrass himself, which is what he admitted. He didn't want to fall over himself trying to knock Jake Paul out, which is why he took his time and did it patiently.

Jake Paul never ran the risk of knocking AJ out. Now, this guy, if AJ were to tire after six rounds, his chances improve. His chances improve. I don't think he knocks him out under any of the other. But his chances improved. So I see AJ being a little bit more forceful, maybe a little bit more force

than we've seen for a long time. Yeah, I think so. And I hope so, a bit like the Ingani performance. Yes. But look, I think it's, you have to give AJ so much credit for linking up with the team

that he's currently with. And I think a guy's beating him twice. Now, the first fate that they had together as a team was against Duke Paul, which wasn't really a fate. And it hadn't been there for very long, six weeks or so, yeah. But it was kind of a camp with that team.

This has been an elongated camp. He's getting used to these guys. He's getting used to their methods. It's the second camp. He's hard with them now. Forget about the Jake Paul fight. I think teaming up with these guys, kind of dumping a lot of the guy.

It seems to be a lot less people around AJ as well, which is a good thing. He's got rid of some baggage. Yeah, good. It doesn't need. In his head and outside the way. Absolutely. And I think he's doing all the right things.

You know what's interesting about the entire Ussick setup because we've had five years now of Ucic dancing around of these multicolored underpants and doing those silly dances and all of the other odd things he does in camp and all the stories. But it turns out when you actually talk to people that are in camp over a length of time,

not just going out for half a day, is that it's beyond intense. That A.J.'s never trained like this before. And that's not, he's in the best condition of his life. He's never trained like this before. He's never, ever, ever, ever. been where those guys have been dragging him and taking him for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. And that's brilliant.

It's what he's needs, Carl. Absolutely. And I think people, I don't think there's anything really you can question AJ about not his mentality. Clearly he's very, mentally, very strong. Physically, he's very, very strong. I think the only thing you can question is sometimes is engine as the fight goes on. And that's because he's so big and he's so muscular. And it's just, you know, transporting oxygen around your body when you're full.

I mean, he's just a suspicion of a man. The fate gets hard and grueling in the second half of the fight sometimes he fades a bit. But if you're with Team Music, you don't fade a bit. You're going to be as fit as he can be.

Yeah, and I think that's the case. Now, I don't really want to throw this onto where do we go once he wins. Obviously, we fury having won and where the fight will be. But it is a question that's growing in relevance, especially because I know that you were

involved on part of the his own broadcast and Eddie Hearn was there getting quite you know quite stroppy about the rules and regulations about where exactly this great fight AJ and Tyson Fury can take place just fill us in a little bit on some of the stuff that Eddie the Eddie said or he was insisting was true well they were kind of saying that they want the fate to not be in the UK Eddie has said specifically that in AJ's contract the fate and assuming and in theory and Furious contract as well. You'd imagine, yeah.

But so their end of the fight has to be in the UK unless we renegotiate the contract, which in other words means, well if we're going to do it in the States, you need to give us more money. Which is fair, I think. I mean, it would be a shame, a

crying shame if I mean, this fight is huge for British boxing. AJ and Fury, not at Wambly. It's at Madison Square Gardens or the MGM and vehicle, wherever it may be. Like, it's almost like, I get it.

Look, it could be a kick in the teeth to the British boxing fans who have travelled to support these guys. And for 10 years. And for 10 years. Fiori beat Vladimir Clitsko in November 2015. So we're talking about nearly 11 years. AJ beat Charles Martin

in April of 2016. So we're over 10 years of loyalty from British fans. Yeah, loyalty from the British fans. Both these guys built by Britain, really. British promoters. I mean, AJ was the Olympic king

representing GB. Fury, I think he tried to I don't know, he tried to fight for Ireland at one's days. He tried to fight for Ireland, yeah. He thought he'd get the GB nod for 2008 when, but he fought and lost the David Price, the price he obviously got the nod. Yeah, but it would be,

I tend to agree with the boys. They got pretty heated, Addy. And it was funny, actually, Addy and Tony Bell. were kind of saying the same thing but arguing with each other at the same time, which was strange. So we're agreeing with each other but arguing with each other?

But arguing, yeah, but, you know, big Tony's like, he's very passionate, isn't he? I saw Tony earlier on he was going out for a burger. He said, I've got to go for a burger, Barry's gone on his own. Have you seen Carl? No, I've not seen him, Tone. Honest. So, so the other thing that strikes me, of course,

is that what Tyson Fury has been saying all week in Pataya, which we kind of have been ignoring. But what he's been saying is, look, this fight will go wherever Turkey Alishait wants it to go. Well, you know, there's a degree of truth in that, in the sense that he's the money bags here. However, people can always change contracts, move contracts. Then what he's also said all week is I don't believe, you know, we heard that a little bit from Tom earlier on, that I don't believe that AJ will ever fight. me and Eddie Hearn wants more money.

Well, we're starting to understand a little bit more why Eddie Hearn might in theory want more money if the contract were to change and they have to go out to America or maybe even Saudi might be under the same rules. Yeah, maybe. Look, and I get the point of what Tyson's saying as well. Turkey Alashig is the one putting the money up. Absolutely, yeah. So if he wants to be somewhere,

then if he's paying for... That's where it goes. Yeah, so I get it. But it would be, for me anyway, personally, a cransheed. if this fate was not in the UK. Well, I tell you, it's been a very entertaining week here in Jeddah. We haven't talked about the heat. I haven't been to see any camels, so it's been good.

We haven't talked about dates or anything like that. Carl's obviously had his burger, hamburger running, and we've seen a very relaxed Anthony, Joshua. So before we say good night, and it's getting quite late here. I can actually see a bit of the moon through the windows here at the hotel. Carl, how do you see it? Ding, ding, how does it end in Jeddah? I really think AJ will have a look in the first round.

He'll be, he'll have a forceful job, a ramrod job. Basic stuff doesn't have to do anything too spectacular. Prangle will be trying to catch things on the gloves, not move his head. And then AJ chins him in the next round, round two. Light jab, big jab, big right hand. Clubs come down naturally. Carl, it's been an absolute pleasure and a delight. You can listen from 11 o'clock on 5 Live and BBC sounds.

I'll be at ringside with Natasha Jonas and Jonathan Overend, who flies in at some point. I think he's up in the sky as we speak. I've been Steve Bunce all week and this has been Five Live Boxing.