Tyson Fury remained non-committal to his professional boxing career immediately following his sixth-round knockout win against Dillian Whyte on Saturday night in front of over 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in London.
Heading into the fight, one of the main storylines for the WBC heavyweight champion Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) was if he would retire at the climax of his career and miss out on potential super fights against Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury has alluded to retiring over the course of the last year several times. The British boxer immediately made his future intentions known in a pair of separate post-fight interviews in the ring.
“I promised my lovely wife Paris of 14 years that after the [third fight with Deontay Wilder in October 2021], that would be it. And I meant it. We had a war. It was a great trilogy. And I meant that,” said Fury. “But I got offered to fight at Wembley at home, and I believe that I deserved — that I owed it to the fans, I owed it to every person in the United Kingdom to come here and fight at Wembley. Now it’s all done. And I have to be a man of my word. And I think this is it. This might be the final curtain for the Gypsy King. And what a way to go out. A big thank you to the United Kingdom.”
A few moments after the interview, Fury was joined by UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in the ring. The two titans have been linked to a potential fight for several months after back and forth banter on social media.
Fury and Ngannou were jointly interviewed by ESPN broadcaster Bernardo Osuna, and the two teased a fight in some capacity in the future in a WWE-like promo.
“I’m boxing heavyweight champion, he’s UFC heavyweight champion. He’s in great shape. Look at the muscles on him,” said Fury.
Ngannou then followed, “And we’re going to find out who is the baddest motherf—– on the planet.
Fury then acknowledged that Ngannou is still on the mend following his unanimous decision win against Ciryl Gane in January. Following his UFC title defense, the French-Cameroonian had ACL reconstruction and MCL repair.
“A couple months, and I’ll get back right on my feet,” said Ngannou.
Fuyy said: “Well this is going to be a very special fight like never before seen in the history of our sport. It’s going to be an explosive fight when it happens.”
Ngannou then hinted that it wouldn’t be a traditional boxing match or MMA fight inside of a cage.
“It’s going to be a hybrid fight with different type of rules, you know, MMA gloves in the ring. Kind of like a mix-up. Make something a little different.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com.