By Tim Royner: Tyson Fury tweeted on Wednesday saying that he’s applying for his boxing license with the BBBofC today, and that he’ll be returning to action in April to defend his Ring Magazine title. However, it’s unclear whether Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) will still have the Ring heavyweight title in his possession by that point, as Ring Magazine editor Doug Fischer reportedly said this week that Fury needs to fight in February for him to keep his title.
We’ll have to see whether Ring Magazine will cut the 29-year-old Fury some slack by letting him wait until April before he defends the Ring heavyweight championship belt.
It’s been over 2 years since Fury last saw action inside the squared circle in November 2015 in his victory over heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf, Germany. Fury was supposed to face Wladimir in a rematch, but the fight was cancelled due to a leg injury and then a bout with mental illness prevented it from happening. At one time, Fury had 4 heavyweight titles (IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO) in his possession. Fury vacated 3 of the belts, and was stripped of his IBF strap.
“Applying for my boxing license today,” said Fury on his social media site. “Will be defending my Ring Magazine title in April,” said Fury.“I can’t wait to get back in the ring. Who do the boxing fans think I should fight in April after 2.5 years out of the ring? I keep saying I want to fight Anthony Joshua in my first fight back. Ray Leonard had 1 fight in 5 years, then came back and beat Marvin Hagler, so it can be done,” said Fury.
It’s interesting that Fury is comparing himself to Sugar Ray Leonard. Fury isn’t that kind of a fighter in the talented department. Leonard was out of the ring for less than 3 years when he came back to defeat middleweight champion Marvin Hagler by a 12 round split decision in April 1987. That was a VERY controversial win for Leonard. Having seen the Leonard-Hagler fight many times on video, Hagler got a raw deal. He appeared to win the fight, but Leonard, the arguably more popular fighter, was given the decision. Fury is a little confused with his Leonard information. The fight that Leonard took after being out of the ring for 5 years was his last fight of his career against Hector ‘Macho’ Camacho in March 1997. Leonard was stopped in the 5th round. This was not a happy ending for Leonard. He looked very rusty and over-the-hill in the Camacho fight. If Fury looks as bad in his April comeback, he’ll lose unless he’s matched against a beatable opponent.
“Delighted to have Tyson Fury back,” said promoter Frank Warren on his Twitter. “I’ll be applying for the reinstatement of the BBBofC license on his behalf. He is the best heavyweight in the world, and he is coming to recapture the belts he never lost in the ring in April,” said Warren.
Fury still needs to lose a lot of weight before he can make his comeback in April. That’s only 3 months away. From the looks of him, Fury appears to be 60 to 80 pounds overweight. It might not be possible for Fury to lose 20 pounds of fat per month to get down to his old fighting weight. Fury is likely going to be still over his target wait when he does make his comeback fight.