Tyson Fury marked his return to the heavyweight mix with a composed points win over Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, before immediately turning ringside to call out long-time rival Anthony Joshua.

The 37-year-old Briton - out of his latest retirement after 15 months - was far from Fury in full flow, but had enough ring IQ and technical control to outbox Makhmudov across 12 largely one-sided rounds.

Fury had to be watchful at times as Makhmudov did land occasional overhand rights, but the Russian was largely one-dimensional as Fury took a wide decision with scorecards of 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109.

But before the scores were even read out, Fury invited Joshua into the ring, but his rival refused.

"I challenge you, Anthony Joshua, to fight me next. Do you accept?" Fury said after more attempts to get Joshua into the ring failed.

Joshua, who appeared to film much of Saturday's fight on his phone at ringside, initially seemed reluctant to engage, before replying: "I punched you up when we were kids and I'll punch you up again.

"You aren't going to tell me what to do, I've been chasing you for 10 years.

"I'm the boss, you work for me. I'm the landlord. You work for me."

Fury responded: "You [Anthony Joshua] are next. You are getting knocked out. Believe it."

A bout that should have happened in both men's primes, it now lingers as boxing's great what-if - but it appears it may finally be made a reality.

In his first fight since successive defeats to unified champion Oleksandr Usyk in 2024, Fury moves to 35 wins, two losses and one draw.

For Makhmudov, 36, it was a third defeat in 24 fights. (BBC, excluding headline)

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