Q&A: Is this Fury’s final farewell and what might it mean for heavyweight scene?
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Tyson Fury claimed he has retired from boxing in a video post on social media on Monday. It is not the first time the ‘Gypsy King’ – who lost his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in December – has declared his intention to hang up his gloves.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the 36-year-old Briton’s latest announcement and what it could mean for the global heavyweight scene. In a word, no. Boxing fans can count on the fingers of one hand the heavyweight fighters who have walked away at or near the top of their sport and resisted all entreaties to return. Lennox Lewis, who retired from the sport following a win over Vitali Klitschko in 2003, serves as a rare modern-day example. But while two successive losses arguably makes it the right time for former world champion Fury to bid the sport farewell, he retains so many lucrative options that it is hard to see him keeping his word – not least because he has already “quit” on numerous previous occasions.
Fury’s claim that the judges gave Usyk a “Christmas gift” by scoring in favour of the Ukrainian in their second fight last month was widely assumed to be the Briton setting the tone for a trilogy. Never mind that many veteran observers believe Usyk simply underscored the fact that he has too much for his opponent, and a third bout would go the same way. Money talks, and in the absence of any more lucrative options, that prospective third meeting remains at the top of the agenda, for the time being at least.
