Eddie Hearn remains convinced Tyson Fury will NOT retire. Speaking with IFL TV, Hearn said he fully expects Fury not to vacate the WBC heavyweight title and instead fight the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua rematch (and the word is the rematch will be officially announced some time next week, with a date of July 23 and a venue in the Middle East likely). Hearn says the greatness that can be achieved by Fury – to be looked at as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time – is what will ensure Fury does not retire.
But Hearn feels his guy AJ can beat Usk in the return and then go on to defeat Fury. This, Hearn says, would make Joshua one of the greatest heavyweights of all time.
“I guess he is going to be asked, ‘are you retiring, and if you are we need to vacate the [WBC] belt,” Hearn said of Fury. “But he is not retiring and he won’t vacate the belt and that is what I expect to happen. If he does retire good luck to him. But I don’t think he will, I think he will fight the winner of AJ and Usyk in December. It will be for the undisputed championship, it will be a huge fight financially and it will be a legacy-defining fight and it will put the winner down as what we call a generational great. If AJ beats Usyk and then goes on to beat Fury he will go down as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. And if Fury beats them Fury goes down as that.”
While most fans will almost certainly agree with Hearn when he says a Fury-Joshua unification fight would be “huge” and legacy-defining,” it’s likely some fans will disagree with him when he says AJ and/or Fury will go down as “one of the greatest heavyweights of all time” with the respective wins. Maybe you do agree, maybe you don’t. But as far as being the best of their generation, Fury, with a win over Usyk or Joshua, or Joshua, with wins over Usyk and Fury, would achieve the distinction.
Hearn of course is not alone when it comes to thinking Fury will not retire. That one last fight, for all the marbles, will simply prove too enticing for Fury. In the meantime, who wins the return fight: Usyk or Joshua? It seems so long ago now that Usyk shocked Joshua to take his belts. Now that the rematch is (apparently) all set to be announced in a matter of days, fans can start delving into the fight and asking the question – will it be repeat or revenge?
And who do you think Fury will be rooting for in July?