Tyson Fury is featured in the news quite a lot today; with stories on everything from his contracted return fight with ex-heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko possibly taking place on a Sheik billionaire’s yacht, to Fury thinking about walking away and retiring, to Fury being presented with the prestigious Ring Magazine belt for the upset win he scored over Wladimir just over two months ago.
It is the possible retirement story that has picked up most interest though. Speaking with BBC Radio 5 Live, the unbeaten heavyweight ruler said he has not yet been back in training since the November win in Germany.
“I’m struggling to get motivated,” Fury revealed. “I could walk away. I could just sail into the sunset unbeaten with all the belts and live a normal life. All that I would be boxing for is money and I always thought to myself I never want to let sport become about money. I’ve accomplished a dream. There is life after boxing and I don’t know what I’m going to do at the moment. I haven’t even cemented that I’m going to fight in a rematch.”
With Fury and his notorious sense of humour and his insistence on “telling it like it is,” and being his own boss, it is always as difficult to dismiss anything he says as it is to believe it. At the recent “Homecoming” press day to celebrate Fury’s big win over Klitschko, his trainer and uncle, Peter told the gathered media how his nephew “plays with all your heads.” Peter added how Tyson “Is not going anywhere,” and stated how “He will be in boxing for a long, long time.”
So, what are we to make of Fury’s talk of possible retirement? It cannot be ruled out completely, and if he is struggling to get motivated (reportedly doing a little jogging and weight lifting but nothing else in the gym right now) maybe Fury should “go and live a normal life.” Wladimir Klitschko sure would be disappointed if Fury walked away from the contracted rematch, and as to what sort of chaos such an act would leave the majority of the heavyweight belts in is anyone’s guess.
A good guess is Tyson is merely playing games, perhaps hoping, once again, to rattle Klitschko as the rematch draws nearer. We still have no exact date or venue for the hugely interesting rematch everyone wants to see, but that aforementioned Sheik moneybags won’t be getting what he wants.
According to an feature in The Telegraph, the Sheik wanted the fight to take place on his luxury yacht, with just 120 millionaires all paying $1 million each for a ticket, with no TV coverage. Fury told Gareth A Davies how he “doesn’t think it’s possible now,” but that it “would have been an epic story.”
“It just shows that this is the biggest prize in sports,” Fury added.
Surely not a prize he can afford to walk away from at the age of 27.