Tyson Fury: I’ll retire after the Klitschko fight

By Boxing News - 05/01/2016 - Comments

fury666By Scott Gilfoid: Well, I knew it was coming. After holding down the IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles for all of five months, Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) is saying he wants to retire after his July 9 rematch against Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs).

Fury says he’s lost the motivation and is sick of the sport. I knew this was going to happen as soon as he won those titles last November. With the mess of money that Fury won in that fight, and the big money he’s going to get in the rematch against Klitschko, it has taken his ambition from Fury. I see this kind of thing all the time.

When a fighter loses the need to keep fighting after making a bundle of money, the distractions of suddenly having a life of leisure sends them into retirement.

Carl Froch retired after making a bundle of loot in his two fights against George Groves. Heck, Froch even turned down money to stay in retirement rather than continue his career by fighting Gennady Golovkin. Who turns down millions? A fighter who has already a bundle of sweet cash fighting guys like Groves.

“Probably, yeah…..unless I can get some big money somewhere else,” said Fury to IFL TV, when asked if he would be retiring after the Klitschko fight. “The better I can get out of it, the better.”

The positive side of Fury retiring after the Klitschko rematch is that Fury can go home and eat and drink whatever he wants without having to worry about staying in some kind of a semblance of shape. As a fighter, Fury can’t let himself gain 100 pounds in between fights and expect to take that kind of weight off and resume his previous form. Fury says he gained four stone after his fight against Wladimir last November.

That is a mountain of weight to take off, and I have my doubts that Fury is going to be able to take that weight off to be the fighter he once was. When you gain that kind of weight, it becomes a medical issue in my view in taking it off without hurting your body in the process.

You cannot put that kind of weight on without really doing a number on your body. I can’t imagine Fury then having to fight after taking that kind of weight off. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fury is only 60 percent of what he was before putting that weight on. The thing is that Fury barely beat Wladimir last November when he was in top form.

Even then, Fury had melted a bunch of weight off to trim down for the fight. I think Wladimir will beat Fury on July 9. There’s no question in my mind that Wladimir will win this fight against a weakened, weight drained Fury.

Fury’s retirement will likely be short because he’ll no doubt be lured back into the boxing world so that he can fight Anthony Joshua. It won’t matter that Fury will be coming off a loss to Klitschko. There will still be a ton of money to be made for Fury against Joshua, and even WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.

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