ANTHONY JOSHUA reckons Tyson Fury intentionally swerved Oleksandr Usyk with his shock showdown with Francis Ngannou.
The Gypsy King faces the former UFC heavyweight champion in a controversial crossover clash in Saudi Arabia in October.
Fury's multi-million melee with the MMA knockout artist came in the wake of his undisputed heavyweight title fight with Usyk falling through.
And AJ – who suffered back-to-back losses to the undefeated Ukrainian – can't help but feel like Fury intentionally dodged the bullet by not fighting the slick southpaw.
The former two-time unified heavyweight champion said: "Usyk was my mandatory and I ended up losing to him.
"I would have loved to have gone to Saudi to compete with someone else and make a s*** load of money and swerve my mandatory.
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"I would still be champion if I could do that but I didn’t get that opportunity and I had to take it on the chin.
"But life isn’t always fair."
Frustration with the stagnation of the division aside, Joshua understands why Fury opted to take a huge payday for what potentially could be an easy night at the office.
The Watford warrior said: "Fury has to do what Fury has to do for him.
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"I admire the guy for his confidence to do what’s right for him – he has an ‘eff it’ mentality.
"I think we all need a bit of that in today’s society.
"If you want to hold him accountable, then yes he should be fighting active fighters.
"And he should wait until the end of his career, when he’s not champion anymore, to compete with MMA fighters.
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"When all is said and done it will just be part of his legacy.
"And I think we will all forget about it sooner or later."
Joshua will be back on the road to title contention a week on Saturday when he rematches long-time rival Dillian Whyte at The O2 Arena.
A win over the Brixton Body Snatcher will set up a long-overdue grudge match with former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, which promoter Eddie Hearn expects to take place in January.
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