By Scott Gilfoid: WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury could be back inside the ring in 2017 to resume his boxing career, according to his trainer Peter Fury. However, Peter thinks Tyson’s WBA/WBO titles should be freed up so that others can fight for them. Fury is dealing with problems related to mental health and drugs. Ideally, Fury should be back next year, but we’ll have to wait and see if the motivation is there with him.
Peter sees Fury back in the gym in March or April 2017. Fury could be out of the ring with a suspension of some sort depending on what happens with his positive drug tests.
The World Boxing Association president Gilberto Mendoza hasn’t made a decision whether to strip Fury or not of his WBA title. If he does get stripped, that belt is expected to be fought over by IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko on November 26. Fury’s WBO could be stripped from him and fought over by Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz Jr. in December.
“I see him being back in the gym in March or April. He’ll resume his career,” Peter said to BBC.com. “He has everything to live for but it seems he is on a self-destruct mission. I don’t think he has got a drug addiction at all. Whatever he has taken will be a result of the depression. The titles shouldn’t be held up. While Tyson is out for medical reasons, the titles should be freed up. Quite clearly this young man has got some mental issues and I ask the world to give this plenty of consideration. Other famous people have had these kinds of problems and bounced back.”
Fury has got to want to resume his boxing career, and it’s unclear whether he has enough desire to continue fighting. It’s not going to work for Fury if his heart isn’t in the sport. If he’s just going to be going through the motions in training camp, then the results will be reflected when he gets inside the ring to start fighting again.
The good news for Fury is that once he’s stripped of his WBA/WBO heavyweight titles, then he can fight fodder opposition with little talent to get his confidence back. Once Fury gets two or three wins over weak opposition out of the way, then he might build up some momentum to fight a good opponent. That’s the best way Fury to proceed with his career.
If Fury comes back and goes straight into a fight against the winner of the Joshua-Klitschko fight or against some other top fighter, he’s going to likely lose. You’d have to see a move like that as a cash out deal if Fury immediately fights one of the top guys rather than taking on two or three tune-up level opponents.
Even if Fury is back mentally and physically to his top form in 2017, it’s still going to be hard for him to compete against guys like Joshua, Klitschko, Deontay Wilder and David Haye. Those guys would be tough for Fury no matter how prepared he is to fight. He just does not have the punching power to handle guys like that unless they sabotage themselves like we saw with Klitschko in his fight with Fury last November.
Klitschko didn’t throw punches, so Fury won the fight by throwing a few slaps every round. I have a hard time seeing Fury beat any of the top guys right now. Even if Fury a plodder like Andy Ruiz Jr., I think he would be in a world of hurt. New Matchroom Sport heavyweight Luis Ortiz would likely massacre Fury in two or three rounds. I’m guessing Eddie Hearn would love to make that fight happen if possible. I doubt that Fury would ever agree to a fight against someone like Ortiz.