On December 11, Fury (36-2, 25 KOs) will finally fight his longtime rival Anthony Joshua (30-4, 27 KOs) in the main event of a Ring card at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, live on Netflix.

Fury, 38, and Joshua, 36, spent the best part of a decade inhabiting the higher reaches of the heavyweight division but many have written them off and out of future title contention.

Warren thinks that, of the two, it is Fury who still warrants a place among the division’s very best.

“He’s up there,” the Hall of Fame promoter told DAZN.

“You’ve got Usyk. He [Fury] lost the two fights with Usyk. One was a split decision. I upset a few people because I thought he actually came through that but it was a very close fight, as both the fights were.

“So I look at AJ's defeats. I look at him against Daniel Dubois. I fancied Daniel Dubois all day long to beat him and he done it in style. He’s come back since, who’s he fought? Jake Paul. You would expect him to be a massive favorite going into that but Jake Paul actually gave him a little bit of a fight, I thought, which surprised me and then he fought Prenga and Prenga was winning the fight before he pulled it out of the bag and he had him in trouble in the first round.”

Fury has supreme self-belief but has lost and been hurt, though still refuses to believe that he has ever been legitimately beaten. He may have been floored four times during his spectacular series with Deontay Wilder but got up every time and left the trilogy with a draw and two stoppage wins.

In May 2024, Fury lost a split decision to Oleksandr Usyk but somehow recovered from a brutal ninth round and finished an outstanding undisputed heavyweight title fight strongly. He entered the rematch confident of victory and, despite losing another decision, he has convinced himself he deserved to have his hand raised.

If the nature of Fury’s defeats to Usyk are often exaggerated, so too are Joshua’s.

In September 2021 the Ukrainian produced a stunning final quarter of the fight to outpoint him and claim the IBF, WBO and WBA titles in London. Joshua then produced a more aggressive display in the rematch but lost a split decision.

Aside from his determination to keep getting up from the canvas, it is hard to find any positivity from Joshua’s losses and difficulties, however. His stoppage defeats to Dubois and Andy Ruiz left no room for debate and the way he was hit and hurt by Prenga is hard to reason away.

“I just look at it and I just think that Tyson, he's weathered the course better than AJ and he's more confident than AJ,” Warren continued.

“I think AJ has his inner doubts at times about fights so I think Tyson's well in front of him and I think Tyson’s, probably in the top three [heavyweights] at the moment.”