Robert McCracken on Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury: Fighters Decide

Robert McCracken has seen enough of boxing’s brutal politics to know when a line should be drawn.

On the subject of Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury, he draws it firmly.

"It’s up to the fighters if they want to fight each other," Joshua’s former trainer told Sky Sports, "I don't think it's anybody else's business whether they should fight or not."

In a week when the noise around a potential all-British heavyweight super-fight has surged again, McCracken’s voice cuts against the clamour. Frank Warren says terms are agreed and they are "waiting for AJ". Eddie Hearn says talks have reopened and Wembley Stadium is back on the table. Social media rages, timelines refresh, speculation swirls.

McCracken, who guided Joshua from Olympic hopeful to unified world heavyweight champion, isn’t interested in the soap opera.

He’s interested in the fighters.

‘He was happy to fight anybody’

Fury has already fired his latest volley, labelling Joshua a "coward" in a social media outburst as negotiations dragged. The rhetoric is familiar now, part of the theatre. But McCracken, who knows Joshua as well as anyone in the sport, rejects the notion that his former charge would shy away from the challenge.

"With Anthony Joshua, in my experiences, he was happy to fight anybody," McCracken said. "It was just about how it was packaged and what was best for him – that's how the fighters look at things these days."

That last line is telling. For all the talk of legacies and grudges, the modern heavyweight super-fight is built as much in boardrooms as in gyms. Broadcast deals, site fees, rematch clauses – the architecture of risk and reward. McCracken has lived through it with Joshua before.

He’s no longer part of Team AJ and makes that clear. But even from a distance, he can see the direction of travel.

"I've not been involved for a long time with Joshua, but it looks like it's going to happen," he said. "Hopefully it will and then obviously everyone can enjoy it."

Form, flaws and fascination

If the fight does land, it comes at an intriguing moment in both men’s careers.

Fury, still the bookmakers’ favourite in most eyes, brushed aside Mariusz Wach in a one-sided stoppage in his summer tune-up. It was routine, almost dismissive, the kind of fight that keeps a champion’s rhythm without asking too many questions.

Joshua’s night was very different.

Dropped twice by Kristian Prenga, he had to pull himself off the canvas before finding the stoppage. He got the knockout. He also got a wave of criticism.

McCracken believes that might be exactly what Joshua needs.

"Joshua is coming off the back of not a great performance, but obviously he got the knockout and that is all that really matters," he said. "He'll be looking to prove people wrong, any of the doubters."

That dynamic feeds the intrigue. Fury, unbeaten and in form, carries the aura. Joshua, dented but dangerous, carries the urgency. McCracken does not dodge the obvious.

"Tyson would be the favourite at the moment with his recent results and his form," he admitted. "It's quite fascinating if you actually think about it, where it's got to and the time it's taken to actually get the fight on."

Years of near-misses, collapsed talks and public call-outs have turned this into more than a boxing match. It’s become a saga. Every new development, every quote, every post, is another episode.

McCracken’s stance is simple: let the fighters decide if they want to write the final chapter.

Boxing on the map – and a night for Grenfell

For all the frustration around delays and deadlocks, McCracken sees one undeniable positive in the endless conversation around Fury-Joshua.

"One thing I'd say is everyone's talking about it – it puts boxing on the map and it's great for boxing," he said. "While boxing's in the forefront and in the news, I think it's a really positive thing."

He was speaking ahead of an event that reminds you what the sport can do away from the bright lights and big cheques.

‘A Night of Solidarity’ on November 13 will bring an Olympic-style evening of boxing to North Kensington, celebrating the unifying power of sport and raising money for firefighters’ charities, youth sport organisations and community groups.

The night has been created to honour the local response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, when boxing and sports clubs in the area opened their doors, offered safe spaces and helped a shattered community begin to rebuild.

The London Fire Brigade Boxing Club has been central to that work, using boxing gyms across the capital to give young people structure, purpose and a sense of belonging, while training side by side with rank-and-file firefighters.

‘A Night of Solidarity’ will pull those strands together. An LFB Select team will face a North Kensington side made up of men, women and youth boxers from clubs across the local area and wider London, with funds going to local sports charities and The Firefighters Charity.

On one side of the sport, global heavyweights haggle over super-fight contracts and stadium dates. On the other, firefighters and teenagers glove up to raise money for their communities.

Somewhere in between sits McCracken, the old pro who has seen it all, still insisting on a simple truth: the biggest decisions in boxing should belong to the people who climb through the ropes.