By Jim Calfa: Tyson Fury will be making a BIG mistake if he retires now without fighting the winner of the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usykk rematch next July.
With Fury making the decision to retire now without fighting Joshua or Usyk, fans are already beginning to say that he’s afraid of them.
As a result, the credit Fury should be receiving in the aftermath of his win over Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) has been dampened.
Instead of fans giving Fury kudos for beating Dillian, they’re focused on his unwillingness to face the Joshua vs. Usyk 2 winner and his talk of not wanting to risk injury by containing his career.
Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) says he doesn’t care about what people think of him after he’s gone, and if that’s the case, his legacy will take a big hit for his decision to walk away from the riskiest fight of his career.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury’s sixth-round knockout victory over a gassed-out and dreadfully poor Dillian Whyte wasn’t impressive enough for him to hang up his gloves without wrecking his legacy.
Fury leaving the sport without finishing the job of becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion is going to make him look like he lost his nerve when faced with a higher-level fighter than the ones he’s been beating all these years.
It wasn’t a shock that Whyte folded so easily against Fury, as he’d been knocked out in five rounds by a 40-year-old pre-COVID-19 sickened Alexander Povetkin in 2020.
Although Whyte avenged his loss by stopping Povetkin in the rematch in March 2021, you can argue the only reason he won was that the Russian fighter was coming back from COVID.
Fury admits that he wants to do exhibition matches now, and wants to fight UFC heavyweight Francisco Ngannou in a boxing match under hybrid rules.
“This is going to be one very special fight,” Fury said about fighting MMA heavyweight Francis Ngannou. “Never seen before in the history of our sport. I’m 270. He’s 270. It’s going to be an explosive fight when it happens.
“It’s going to be a hybrid fight with a different types of rules,” Ngannou said. “MMA gloves in the ring. A little different.
“You might see me at Summerslam, coming up soon,” said Fury.
“I’ve got to speak to Vince [McMahon] and the boys and maybe make this happen,” said Fury.
“The key thing for me is to see if Tyson will continue because there are fights out there that need to be had, whether that’s Usyk or Anthony,” said Simon Jordan to iFL TV. ”
“I think Joe Joyce has the physical stature and the engine to bring him down the straight, but I still think Tyson Fury has two or three good fights left.
“He did to Dillian Whyte what most people thought he was going to do. Dillian had his shot,” said Jordan.
