Tyson Fury has questioned the heart of former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua.
"AJ' dramatically lost his IBF, ABA and WBO titles last weekend, when he was stopped by Mexican-American Andy Ruiz Jr.
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The defeat was Joshua's first, but Ruiz also exposed huge holes in the Brit's game that were previously hidden.
Fury, a former heavyweight champion in his own right, has often proclaimed Joshua is nothing but an "overhyped bodybuilder", charading as a boxer.
But despite their feisty relationship, 'The Gypsy King' refrained from kicking his countryman while he was down last Sunday, instead offering Joshua words of encouragement
"We have our back and forth's [sic]," Fury wrote on social media.
"But @anthonyfjoshua changed his stars through life. Heavyweight boxing, these things happen, rest up, recover, regroup and come again."
That was Sunday. Fury has since decided the time for niceties has passed, as the 30-year-old embarks on a US media blitz, before his heavyweight fight with undefeated German Tom Schwarz in Las Vegas in two weeks.
Speaking to Bleacher Report, Fury said Joshua "quit" when Ruiz's pressure started to overwhelm him.
"He seemed happy to lose," Fury noted. "I think sometimes, when people have a lot of pressure on them, they are just happy to get the loss out of the way - that first loss."
Fury contrasted Joshua's response to adversity to his own. In November, Fury was floored twice by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in their 12-round war.
Both times he recovered, eventually earning a draw, although most pundits had Fury winning a razor-close decision.
"He [Joshua] didn't want to continue. When I got knocked down by Wilder in the 12th round, I had to convince him [the referee] that I wanted to continue.
"I held him by both shoulders and I said, 'I am okay - I am okay to continue'.
"AJ was just holding onto the ropes, showing no signs he wanted to continue. At the end of the day, it's the fight in the person that matters most."
Fury's war of words truce was never going to last, given his charismatic persona and gift of the gab.
But his beef with Joshua and promoter Eddie Hearn stems from years of public spats between them that Fury believes is personal - on their side.
"Look, the man has just been flattened, so he deserves to have a little bit of dignity without me ripping him on live TV.
"But if it was me and I had been knocked out by a little fat guy, then they would verbally destroy me. His promoter and him would not leave off with me.
"Why am I being kind to people that have slated me their entire career... two people who have been begging for me to lose every time I fight.
"Well AJ, bodybuilding ain't boxing. Stick to your own sport and leave the fights to the fighting men."
Fury's quest for the heavyweight title that was stripped from him three-years ago will take another step forward, if he beats Schwarz on June 16 (NZT).
Victory should leave Fury in line for a rematch with Wilder, if the American still holds the WBC belt.
Fury's opinion of Wilder is short, but effective.
"He's a bum."
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