Tyson Fury has insisted that, rather than considering retirement, he is at the peak of his career and has planned at least five more fights including a hugely lucrative pair of bouts with Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua.
The British fighter was meant to fight Usyk for the undisputed world heavyweight championship a week on Saturday in Riyadh but that much-anticipated contest was postponed for a second time after Fury suffered a cut in training that required “significant stitching”.
Amid boxing’s whirlpool of gossip and rumour, Fury responded forcefully on Instagram on Wednesday afternoon. “I keep hearing talk of people saying I should retire or I’m going to retire soon or whatever,” Fury said, with a dark row of stitches visible about his left eye. “I ain’t retiring – I’ve got two fights with Usyk for the undisputed, twice.
“Then I’m going to fight AJ [Joshua] at least once, maybe twice, if there’s a rematch – if he wants one after the first battering I give him. Then I’m going to fight [Francis] Ngannou again. And that’s just the start. So there’re five little fights for you to whet your appetite with. I ain’t going nowhere. Nowhere. I’m 35 years old and in the prime of my life and I’m ready to smash …’
In keeping with boxing’s habitual chaos, the Instagram recording ended just as Fury started to say the name of, presumably, Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian, meanwhile, has returned to his beleaguered home country to meet his new baby daughter whose recent birth he missed while training for the Fury fight. “I’m very happy because I now go to Ukraine,” Usyk told the BBC. “I see my two daughters and my wife. I go to my church and pray. A little bit of rest and back to my camp.”
Fury’s latest spate of troubles began in late October when Ngannou, a mixed martial artist and former UFC world champion who was having his first fight as a professional boxer, knocked him down in the third round of a bout which most had expected to be little more than an exhibition. Instead, Fury was pushed to the brink of defeat before winning a split decision over the boxing novice. His fight with Usyk, originally scheduled for 23 December, had to be pushed back for the first time.
Usyk is a master boxer and, despite being considerably smaller than Fury, the prospect of their world title unification had generated huge interest. But last Friday news broke that Fury’s eye had been badly cut, apparently by an elbow during sparring, and there were lingering doubts among more cynical boxing insiders that the fight would ever happen. But it has since been confirmed that Fury, who holds the WBC title, and Usyk, the IBF, WBA and WBO champion, will now meet in Riyadh on 18 May.
