Tyson Fury may officially be retired, at least in his own public statements, but basically nobody is taking it seriously as something long-term, and that can only change if Fury himself just stays away.
Promoter Frank Warren tells talkSPORT that he doesn’t expect that will be the case, saying Fury has “itchy feet” and “wants to fight,” with the outcome of the Aug. 20 rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua being very important to what Fury may do next:
“I think what’s going to happen is, see what happens on the 20th and the outcome of that, and that’ll determine what he intends to do in the future. My opinion, this is not from him, it’s from me. I think he will [return] because he’s a fighting man and he misses it. That’s what he does, he wants to fight.”
Fury himself has said many times that he feels his best when he’s active, both training and fighting, and that’s one of the reasons people seem to largely expect him to fight again sooner than later.
But Warren also adds that Fury should either get back in the ring soon enough, or simply stay out. “I don’t want him to retire and come back in three years,” Warren added. “If you’re going to come back, fight in your prime. Three years later you change.”
Fury (32-0-1, 23 KO) still has the WBC heavyweight title and is recognized by some as the LINEAL!!!!!!!!!! champion of the division, and by everyone as the unquestioned top dog at the weight, unless you are taking a boxer at face value on a “retirement” at the age of 33 and have him as “inactive.”
The winner of Usyk vs Joshua 2 will have the other three major world titles in the division — WBA, IBF, and WBO — and it’s thought by most that a Joshua win would be the most likely thing to get Fury back quickly, since it would be a massive money fight on UK pay-per-view even if the fight costs too much to actually be held in the country.