Anthony Joshua almost caused the collapse of his long-awaited showdown with Tyson Fury when he came close to a catastrophic defeat to Kristian Prenga last month. Now, Fury’s apparent silence on that display has been explained.

Fury had called for a clash with ‘AJ’ after his April win over Arslanbek Makhmudov, but Joshua insisted he would first require a ‘warm-up’ fight and agreed to a bout with Prenga, whilst Fury kept active with a low-profile affair against Mariusz Wach.

‘The Gypsy King’ halted Wach after seven dull but dominant rounds, requiring only a Joshua win the following day in order to tee up their in-demand bust-up.

However, in the opening round, Fury will have joined British fight fans by having his heart in his mouth, as Joshua twice hit the canvas and looked to be on the verge of a shocking defeat to the Albanian before bouncing back and scoring a round two knockout of his own.

Ever since, the usually vocal Fury has refused to take a jibe at his perennial rival and his brother, Shane Fury, told Boxing King Media that this is because he does not wish to ‘kick a man whilst he is down’.

“Tyson doesn’t kick anyone when they are down. Tyson is too much of a man for 98% of these men what’s in boxing. What is Tyson going to do, get on the internet and slag someone off when he is [down]?

“There is no hatred between Tyson and anyone.”

Fury-Joshua looks set to take place in New York this November, unless Joshua decides to accept another ‘tune-up’ fight in order to rebuild his confidence.