Tyson Fury has admitted he could be tempted back for a unification bout against the winner of Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua after declaring: “Never say never.”
WBC heavyweight champion Fury has been adamant that his victory over Dillian Whyte in front of 94,000 fans at Wembley in April was his last fight. But eight weeks into retirement, he is already considering exhibition bouts against Mike Tyson and the Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali.
And, crucially, he is refusing to rule out fighting professionally again with an undisputed clash against Usyk or Joshua now well on the cards. Asked about the prospect of now fighting a unification bout, Fury said: “You can never say never to anything.”
Fury, who was speaking to the Mirror Sport about his ' Official After Party Tour' which starts later this month, continued: “Every time you wake up it’s a fight because you’re fighting to survive. Every day I get out of bed it’s a fight, whether I’m fighting in the boxing ring or fighting in life. Whatever you’re fighting for, whatever your cause is, it’s never easy. I’m hoping to do some exhibitions and things like that, I’ve got some big stuff coming up at the end of the year, so we’re looking forward to that.
“But you never say never to getting back into the ring — it’s not like I’m 52. I’m 33 years old, I can come back whenever if I wanted to. For now, I’m happily contented, and I might do a few exhibitions, Mike Tyson or one of the Klitschkos, someone like that, the showbiz and entertainment stuff. It’s something people are interested these days.” Joshua is expected to announce the date of his rematch with Usyk this week, and the prospect of Fury now fighting the winner will only add to the spectacle. In the build-up to and immediate aftermath of his fight with Whyte, Fury stuck to his guns that he’d promised his wife, Paris, that he wouldn’t fight again after that outing.
And he knows that victory, if it does prove to be his last fight as a professional, was some way to bow out of the sport he loves. He added: “It was right up there. It was one of the biggest crowds ever recorded at Wembley, 94,000, the only person who has come close to me was Adele with 92,000. To get an epic knockout over some guy nobody wanted too fight, it was just a really one-sided beatdown, it was fantastic.
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“I owed that to my fans, I’d been away for four years in America and what a way to go out, in front of 94,000 countrymen and women and to have an epic knockout over the No.1-ranked contender in the world. What a send-off. From the ring walk onwards, it couldn’t have gone more perfectly. Camp was good, preparation… It was just a brilliant way to go out with a bang.” Fury hopes his ‘Official After Party Tour’ will serve not only as a chance to have some fun with his fans but as a mental health workshop for anyone struggling as well. The 33-year-old kicks off the 15-date first leg of the tour in Derby next week and there will be further dates in September and October before he takes his show overseas.
He said: “It’s going to be an absolutely epic time and I’m looking forward to it — we’re going to have some great fun along the way. I get to meet thousands of people who I don’t know but are fans of mine and have stayed up and bought pay-per-views or tickets to a fight or merchandise, whatever. I get to listen to their stories and it’s pretty good, you know, I get to meet some characters and it keeps me focused and busy.
“I do my tour, I’m training twice a day and I get to meet people I’ve helped in their lives, people who’ve tried to kill themselves. It’s like a mental health tour as well. The tour is like a workshop for people who have struggled. We have a lot of things going on, a lot of things in the pipeline with maybe launching mental health apps, but that’s all in the future, in the months and years to come. I’m focusing on the Tyson Fury Foundation in Morecambe, I’m hoping to get that up and launched quite quickly, sometime this year. But first I’m coming to a town near you.”
Tyson Fury’s ‘Official After Party Tour’ begins in Derby on June 23. For more information about the tour, see www.goldstarpromotions.co.uk
