By: Sean Crose
Tyson Fury has said that he is retiring. He’s said it before and there is frankly a very good chance he’ll say it again. Fury is unquestionably a likeable dude, but he likes to talk off the cuff. He also tends to contradict himself, either from changing his mind or from just liking to mess with people. At any rate, Fury has claimed he’s out of the fight game after absolutely destroying Dillian Whyte with a missile-like uppercut a few weeks back. Count promoter and Matchroom honcho Eddie Hearn as someone whose taking Fury’s latest retirement announcement with a grain of salt.
“It’s very easy for Tyson,” Hearn told iFl TV, “to go back and go, ‘Look, I’m just gonna have some time now. Let me just think about what I’m going to do. I know I said that after the fight, but let me have some time.'” Hearn then cut to the chase. “We all know he’s not retiring.” And so what does Hearn feel the future holds for the current WBC lineal and heavyweight champion of the world? “I expect to see him fight the winner of Joshua-Usyk in December.” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman may well agree with Hearn. At the very least he’s suspicious of Fury’s retirement claim, as he’s officially given “The Gyspy King” some time before he removes the WBC title from the towering Englishman’s possession.
Should Fury decide to continue fighting, Hearn believes he will take on the winner of the Anthony Joshua-Oleksandr Usyk rematch, which should go down over the summer. Since beating Joshua in their first match, Usyk has been in possession of the WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles. Should Fury fight the winner of Joshua-Usyk II, an actual undisputed heavyweight champion of the word will be crowned – something that hasn’t happened in quite some time.
Fury is unquestionably the most colorful heavyweight titlist since Mike Tyson and George Foreman dominated the 90’s. Big, outspoken and just plain weird, the undefeated Fury has a natural ability to draw in eyeballs. He’s also proven to be an extraordinarily good fighter. Along with Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko, Fury has essentially put to rest the longstanding belief that enormous men don’t possess enormous ring ability. It’s a safe bet the man would be favored stepping into the ring with either Joshua or Usyk, should he decide to face the winner of their highly anticipated second go round.