It was while in the shower at home that Tyson Fury told his wife that he was reneging on his retirement plan and would fight a final time: against Dillian Whyte.
Sitting in the front row of his press conference following a comfortable dismantling of the Londoner, Paris Fury, dressed head to toe in white, looked as unconvinced as all those gathered in the room that this was it for her husband.
She said she would like to see him officially call it quits and retire to life with her and the couple’s six children before, in the next breath, predicting another U-turn was forthcoming.
“I know in my heart, I think the only reason that Tyson will come back is for the unification fight,” she said.
The Fury retirement pronouncements have been unconvincing. For one, we have been here before ahead of the final part of the Deontay Wilder trilogy. That time, as this, he was adamant it was the last but all it took to persuade him was a solitary phone call from Frank Warren with the dangled carrot of 94,000 people at Wembley Stadium to face Whyte.
This time, the offer will surely be infinitely more tempting: the winner of Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, provisionally scheduled to fight again in Saudi Arabia on July 23, and a potential unification fight before Christmas.
Even moments after Fury had knocked out Whyte with a stunning right uppercut in the sixth round – merely cementing his position as the world’s best heavyweight – cracks were beginning to appear in the retirement.
The language had changed, instead the 33-year-old stating crucially that this only “might” be the last dance for the self-proclaimed Gypsy King.
Much rests in the hands of Warren again and Top Rank chief Bob Arum. Fury is scheduled to meet Arum in the United States next month with two American legs left of the multi-fight deal the pair previously signed.
Such contracts can easily be annulled but it seems impossible to think that Fury will hang up his gloves now.
One primary issue is his love for the sport. At the start of fight week, he had professed his undying love, giving off the impression he would struggle to ever walk away before the narrative shifted to calling time.
Fury lapped up every moment at Wembley from acting as a glorified fan for the undercard fights to his over-the-top ring walk, which included a stint sitting in a golden throne on his way to the fight, not to mention the bout itself and the post-knockdown adulation from the crowd.
Asked about his motivation, he said simply: “It’s not been about belts or legacies, it’s been about punching the motherf****r in the face.”
On the evidence of Saturday night, that particular desire still burns bright but surely there is an element of legacy that ticks inside. He talked of wanting to walk away as an undefeated heavyweight like Rocky Marciano but, in truth, he knows questions will still be asked if he does not become the first man to unify the heavyweight world titles since Lennox Lewis.
On paper, he beats both Usyk and Joshua and it might yet be that he still faces both in the ring immaterial of the winner of the pair’s rematch.
Following the last title defence against Whyte, Fury likened his career to a computer game, saying he’d completed it. But surely only the unification fight does that.
Asked if this was the end, he said: “I definitely think so. I want to have fun, it’s what I do best. I’m happy with my decisions. I’ll go home with my wife and my kids. I’ve fulfilled everything I wanted. I’m going to retire as only the second heavyweight in history to retire undefeated. It’s been a fairytale few years. It’s been more than I ever dreamed of. I’ve won every belt there is to win.”
Amid the protestations, it may well be that Fury is done and we don’t see him inside a boxing ring again, and yet Saturday night didn’t remotely feel like the end.
Saturday night didn’t remotely feel like the end for the world’s best heavyweight
Warren is adamant he will not be the man to try and prompt another Fury U-turn, making the point that it is too dangerous to coax an unwilling fighter back into the ring. But he also knows last time it only required a brief phone call for a change of heart.
Lewis, who retired as an undisputed heavyweight champion, perhaps knows better than most the mindset of someone like Fury. “I doubt he’ll retire,” he said. “I think he’ll be back in the ring. I believe Fury’s going to want to go for undisputed.”
