Boxing analyst Johnny Nelson predicts that WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will retire from the sport following his eye injury, allowing unified champion Oleksandr Usyk to battle somebody else for the undisputed championship.
Nelson feels the 35-year-old Fury has been through a lot, and with the rumors of him getting knocked about in training camp, he thinks he’s not what he once was.
Reasons why Fury could Retire
- Ring Wear & Advanced age: The rumors of Fury getting beaten up in training camp by different sparring partners suggest that he’s fully, 100% over-the-hill
- Damage from the Wilder fights: The three fights with Wilder, especially the first and third, took a lot out of Fury, leaving the shell we saw getting manhandled by novice Francis Ngannou.
- Eye Injury, the silver bullet: Fury’s eye injury this week may have been the final nail in the coffin of his career.
Fury’s injury last Friday during a sparring session might be the final straw in his career, which has been limping since his grueling third battle against Deontay Wilder in 2021.
“Tyson Fury retires. Usyk goes on and boxes somebody else for all of the titles, and there is some kickback in regards to where Tyson Fury goes next,” said Johnny Nelson to Boxing King Media, predicting what will happen next following Tyson Fury’s eye injury and his withdrawal from the August 17th fight against Oleksandr Usyk.
If Fury doesn’t vacate, the Saudis need to consider pulling back on their interest in using him for their card involving Usyk and focus on someone still firing on all eight cylinders, like Zhilei Zhang, Filip Hrgovic, or Jared Anderson.
Fury looked like a textbook example of a washed fighter against Ngannou, and the thing is, he’d been able to hide his over-the-hill status by facing the old veterans, Dereck Chisora and Dillian Whyte, in the last couple of years.
His fight against Ngannou was like a spotlight being shown in a dark run, with allowing one to see all the flaws in Fury. It was enlightening but shocking at how depleted and marginal Fury looked.
