Fury’s retirement talk is unconvincing... champ’s wife thinks he’ll be back
IT WAS while in the shower at home that Tyson Fury told his wife, Paris, 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 Whyte, Paris looked as unconvinced as all those in attendance 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 on the cards. “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.
Next time, the offer will surely be more tempting: the winner of Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, provisionally scheduled to fight in Saudi Arabia on July 23, and a potential reunification fight before Christmas.
Even moments after Fury had knocked out Whyte with a stunning right uppercut in the sixth round, cracks were beginning to appear in the retirement plans. The language had changed: instead, the 33-year-old stated this only “might” be the last dance for the Gypsy King.
Much rests in the hands of Warren and Bob Arum. Fury is scheduled to meet Arum next month, with two American legs left of the multi-fight deal the pair had signed. Such contracts can easily enough be annulled, but it seems impossible to think Fury will hang up his gloves now.
One primary issue is his love for the sport. At the start of fight week, he had given 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 ove r- t h e - t o p ring walk, which included a stint sitting in a golden throne, 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***** in the face.”
On the evidence of Saturday, 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 such as 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 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 had completed it, but surely only the reunification fight does that.
Asked if this was the end, he said: “I think so. I want to have fun, it’s what I do best. I’m happywith my decisions. I’ll go home with mywife 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, 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 — yet Saturday night did not remotely feel like the end.
Warren is adamant he will not be the man who will try to convince Fury to make a U-turn, making the point it is too dangerous to coax an unwilling fighter back into the ring. But he also knows it only requires the briefest of phone calls for a change of heart.
Lewis, who retired as an undisputed heavyweight champion, perhaps knows better than most the mindset of someone such as Fury. “I doubt he’ll retire,” he said. “I think he’ll be back in the ring.”