By Scott Gilfoid: Former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is flapping his gums today on his social media site in saying he’s retired from boxing. This is yet another retirement for the soon to be 29-year-old Fury, who hasn’t seen the inside of a ring since his boring 12 round decision win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
It’s anyone’s guess what led to Fury’s latest retirement for today, but I saw it coming earlier this month when has blabbering in an interview about having climbed Mount Everest with his win over 41-year-old Wladimir Klitschko. I mean, I expected Fury to come up with some drama. He was like a volcano ready to explode with a retirement announcement, and sure enough, that’s what he’s done.
“Been very blessed in my life & career achieve the utmost in boxing, was an epic journey along the way, said Fury on his Instagram on Wednesday. ”Thanks to all the fans that supported & believed in me along the way, Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. THE END.”
So we’re supposed to believe that Fury is actually going to retirement from boxing now? I don’t think so. With all the sweet cash that is available for Fury to scoop up and feather his nest with in a fight against Anthony Joshua, no way do I see him staying retired. Even if Fury come waddles into the ring at close to 400 pounds against Joshua, the boxing fans are going to greedily purchase tickets to see the fight and watch it on Sky Box Office PPV. Fury will make a mountain full of money fighting Joshua.
Believe me, there’s too much cash on the line for Fury to stay retired if he was even serious about his drama-filled retirement announcement. Personally, I think Fury got up this morning, bored out of his mind and he wanted to get a reaction out of the boxing media. What better way to do that then to announce his retirement. The problem is when you cry wolf too many times, the public stops believing you. I don’t believe for a second that Fury is retiring. He’s just blabbering.
Fury will likely be looking to get his boxing license back, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem for him. The talk is Fury’s trainer Peter Fury wants to get his boxing license back so that he can see action on the undercard of Hughie Fury’s title shot against WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker on September 23. What a distraction that would be to have Tyson Fury on the undercard. If I was Hughie, I’d be totally against Tyson being on my undercard, because he would suck all the air out of the main event fight. Instead of the boxing fans hanging around to see the main event between Parker and Hughie, you’d likely have fans walking out of the arena after Tyson fights, as that would be the fight that they would be coming to see.
Here’s what Fury said a little over a week ago to Boxnation:
“I’ve not been involved in the sport for nearly two years, so I don’t think it’s fair to try and dampen the lads as it’s their big time to shine,” Fury said. “My time was two years ago. If I come back there will be an announcement, but if I don’t then goodbye.”
As you can see, Fury was already thinking retirement over a week ago. Today’s announcement from Fury was totally expected by me. I’m not surprised, but I’m also not crazy to believe it for a second. If Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn waves a wad of cash under Fury’s snoot, I see him floating into the ring to fight Joshua. As long as the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) gives Fury back his license to fight, and as long as the UKAD hearing comes out alright, I expect Fury to be back fighting straightaway.
Heck, I doubt that Fury will even take a tune-up for make much effort to burn the weight off that he’s put on. If the British boxing public is willing to pay to see Fury fight Joshua no matter what, they’re going to do it regardless of how fat he is. Obviously, it will tarnish Joshua’s win if Fury comes into the ring close to 400 lbs. on fight night. The sight of Joshua knocking out a 350 lb. Fury would look bad, but the huge pile of green stuff Joshua gets for the fight will help assuage his hurt sensibilities.
“I’m undefeated. Second heavyweight champion in history to retire unbeaten after Rocky Marciano.,” said Fury. ”Unified the division. Beat the man who can’t be beat. Do I need to do anymore?”
There’s just no ambition and seemingly zero self-confidence with Tyson Fury. He’s stuck on his win over Wladimir, and he can’t let go of it. The victory validated Fury’s career in his mind, and he doesn’t seem willing to test himself against anyone else in the sport. Fury seemed reluctant to even fight Wladimir a second time. It’s like someone beating you in a game of ping pong. Instead of them playing you a second time, they’re quit and rest on their laurels after one silly game. I don’t understand that way of thinking. The only way to explain it in a rationale way is to say that Fury seems to lack the self-confidence needed for him to take off the weight and test himself against Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker. Fury could probably even get a rematch with Wladimir if he showed him that he was serious about wanting to resume his career. Right now, that’s not looking like it’s ever going to happen in terms of a rematch with Wladimir. I do think Fury will get back into the ring for a money fight against Joshua, but I see him losing badly for lack of preparation.
Fury isn’t the first fighter whose career has gone belly up after a big win. Buster Douglas’ career imploded after he pulled off a shocking upset of Mike Tyson on February 11, 1990. Douglas came out of nowhere to stop Tyson in the 10th round. After that fight, a blubbery 246 lb. Douglas came back 8 months later and lost to Evander Holyfield by a 3rd round knockout on October 25, 1990. Douglas then retired from boxing. Six years later, Douglas made a comeback in 1996 and put together 6 wins before being stopped in the 1st round by Lou Savarese in the 1st round in June 1998. This wasn’t the same Douglas that upset Tyson. The years of inactivity had taken away much of the physical skills that he once had.
If Fury does stay retired, I don’t think it’ll make much difference. He’s already been out of the ring for 2 years, so it’s not as if the boxing public will go into shock now that Fury is jabbering about wanting to stay out of the ring permanently. Fury has already been replaced by Joshua as the biggest heavyweight star in Britain. If Fury comes back at a later date, he’ll likely make less money than he would if he had taken the fight with Joshua in 2017 or 2018. The boxing public will forget about Fury eventually. So even if he returns to the ring in 2020 or later, a fight against Joshua won’t be as big as it would be if he took the fight now while he’s still fresh in the minds of the boxing. Fans can believe that a fighter coming off of a 2-year layoff can potentially win a big fight. Once that layoff is 5 or more years, it’s no longer believable that the fighter can pull off a big upset against a well-known star in boxing. As such, if Fury wants to get the most cash for a fight against Joshua, then he needs to get back in the ring as soon as possible and fight him before the fans lose interest in the fight.