Last year, Tyson Fury was prepared to call it quits on boxing forever; but, he now wants to compete ten more times.
On May 18, Fury, 35, will fight Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in an attempt to become the first heavyweight world champion to go undefeated since Lennox Lewis. After promising Anthony Joshua a domestic doubleheader, first in the Middle East and later at Wembley Stadium, he will now focus on his fierce adversary.
Fury has repeatedly “retired” from the ring, but he maintains that he was prepared to do so prior to the unexpected infusion of cash from Saudi Arabian oil. He now aspires to box into his 40s, emulating heavyweight greats Evander Holyfield and George Foreman. “If Saudi didn’t come into boxing and put my last fight on, I wouldn’t be boxing now,” Fury stated.
“We’ve talked about 10 more fights and that’s the aim. I’m not even 36 yet so I’ll go to 40, all these fighters go to 40. If they can line them up quickly I’ll do them. I can get the best out of me when I have two, three, four fights on the spin. If they can do it, fantastic. I’ll do Usyk, Usyk, AJ, AJ – if he doesn’t get beat in the meantime – so that’s four. Then I’ll do Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce, then Joseph Parker, that’s seven.
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“Then I’ll go to America and chuck in an American, maybe Deontay Wilder for a fourth time. Maybe a European, an Agit Kabayel. Then for the 10th I’ll probably do a trilogy with Usyk.” Fury and Joshua agreed a deal to fight in 2021 before Fury was instead forced to take on Wilder in their trilogy bout when the American took him to court.
Joshua went on to lose his world titles to Usyk but four successive wins since their rematch have propelled him back into world title contention. He is expected to challenge for the IBF world title in September against either Daniel Dubois or Filip Hrgovic who are due to collide this summer.
Fury expects to take on Usyk for a second time in October, potentially setting him up for a meeting with Joshua early next year. But the champion is in no mood to rush into a fight with his fellow countryman. “The rematch was always very important to the little Usyk fella, he was crying like a little b**** about it,” he added. “I never wanted rematches after that Wilder stuff, I wanted one fight, but now I see it’s good because if I was chinned in a round I would get the chance to avenge it and get paid double. So I take my bald head off to Usyk, he gets a second chance and paid twice.”
