Tyson Fury might be getting ready for a re-match with Wladimir Klitschko, but it appears digging out Anthony Joshua is just as important to the world heavyweight champ right now.

Fury today hit the promotion trail for the Klitschko fight – scheduled for July 9 in Manchester – but spent most of a press conference slagging off Joshua and just about anyone else in the fight game.

The controversial WBA and WBO heavyweight champion labelled Joshua a “pumped up weightlifter” before describing British heavyweights in general as “bums”.

Even fans in this country were not safe from Fury’s home-spun style of criticism, but it was Joshua who was firmly in his focus after he beat Charles Martin at London’s O2 Arena at the weekend to take the IBF heavyweight crown.

“I thought he looked like a pumped up weightlifter, out of his mind on drugs,” Fury said of Joshua’s win.

“He fought an American who came to lay down and had about as much fight in him as this glass of water there, zero.”

Fury’s outburst is hardly unexpected – he’s got a bit of previous for this kind of stuff – but also because suggestions of a glamour all-British unification fight against Joshua looms large in the minds of most fight fans in this country.

If that fight does happen, Fury is already readying himself as the pantomime villain.

“The British public is thrilled by bums. You might be brainwashed by a p***y like Eddie Hearn,” he said.

“The fight I have to worry about is Wlad because he is 10 times the man of any of them world champions. You don’t hold a belt for 10 years if you’re no good.

“It’s no good talking about these bums until I get past him. Providing I do that I’ll fight all of them. I’ll take on the British first because they’re the easiest. I’ll leave the Americans until afterwards.”

We think there was a compliment for Klitschko in there somewhere.