Whyte noise as time catches up with Fury
Tyson Fury has admitted he has only “a couple of fights left” in him after revealing he’s planning his retirement heading into this morning’s WBC heavyweight showdown against Dillian Whyte in London.
The self-professed Gypsy King will walk to the ring at Wembley Stadium for the 33rd time in his professional career. But despite lucrative fights potentially on offer against Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua and being a fairly modest 33 years old, Fury believes that win or lose against Whyte he does not have much left in the tank.
“I’m getting too old for this,” said Fury. “I’ve had everything to deal with — weight loss, ups and downs, alcohol problems, drug problems. I’m probably around about 60 [years old] when it comes to boxing years.
“I’m not in this for a long time, I’m in it for a good time. I’ve got a couple of fights left and then that’s me done.
“I’m still batting on, taking care of things, I’m going to take care of a few fights and then we’ll see. I’m looking forward to all these fights. Whatever fights come up next, they’re the ones I’m looking forward to.”
Fury also knows Father Time is coming for him. “Every dog has his day whether you’re the greatest or not, age catches up very quickly so you’ve got to move over for the younger guys.”
As an example of that, Fury looked back to his victory over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 when the Briton won the world title before his two years in the wilderness.
“Klitschko all those years ago, I said to him ‘you were a good champion in your day, a good man. But Father Time has caught up with you’. I said ‘you’ve got to move over for the younger guys coming through, give us a chance’.
“I’m the same now and I’m not far off the same age Wladimir was when I beat him. The mistake Wladimir made was he wanted to take on the next era of champions and it didn’t work out for him.”
Whyte, meanwhile, has vowed to give Fury a rematch if he defeats the champion, who he hailed as the “greatest heavyweight of all time”.
“Me vs Tyson Fury — most believe he’s the best of all time, why would I not want to fight the best of all time again?” explained Whyte.