Tyson Fury has revealed that his decision to retire from the sport resulted from the heavy blows he absorbed in his three fights against former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder.
Fury took gawdawful punishment in his three fights with the brutal puncher Wilder, dodged two knockout defeats, thanks to the referees, and emerged with a couple of victories and a draw.
The 32-year-old Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) says fans want him to continue, but he’s the one that could end up in a wheelchair with brain damage. As a result, Fury says he doesn’t wish to fight anymore.
Fury still hasn’t vacated his WBC heavyweight title, which leads some to believe he will hold onto it until the smoke clears from the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr II rematch on August 20th.
There’s too much money at stake for Fury to retire without fighting the winner, which could be Usyk. It’s debatable whether Fury will choose to fight Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) because it’s a bad style match-up for him, and he could still make more money fighting Joshua, even with him coming off a loss.
At this point in Fury’s career, he’s more of a prizefighter, more-focused fighter than a boxer looking for glory in the sport.
“People say, ‘One more, two more.’ But if I was in a wheelchair and say, ‘I had four more fights guys and got brain damage.’ I’m the one getting punched in the head by these giant men,” said Tyson Fury to the Daily Star. “I mean it, people. I’ve had enough, and I don’t want to fight no more.”
As you can see, Fury has lost his hunger to continue fighting and is worried about being hurt if he continues. With that said, Fury’s delay in vacating his WBC title hints that he’s waiting to see if Joshua defeats Usyk next month in their rematch.
If Joshua wins, Fury will indeed chance it by coming out of retirement to fight him for what could be a $100 million pot of gold. With that kind of money, it’s worth taking the risk.
“I had lumps on the back of my head like fists. I was concussed; I didn’t remember anything,” said Fury about his punishment in his trilogy fight with Deontay last October. “I was thinking, ‘Did I get put down four times?’ I thought, ‘I think it’s time to call it a day.'”
Fury landed many rabbit punches to the back of Wilder’s head in their rematch in 2020.
As such, if Fury ended up with lumps in the back of his head in the trilogy match with Deotay, you can argue that was payback for the ‘Bronze Bomber’ for the rabbit punches ‘The Gypsy King’ hit him with in their rematch two years ago. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
“There are seven billion people in the world. Just think about that number – seven billion people, and I’m the f***ing heavyweight champion of the world,” said Fury. “Number one. Out of all those people, the biggest, fattest, baldest, ugliest motherf***er on the planet, that’s me.”
