Tyson Fury confirmed last Saturday that he won’t be coming out of retirement to resume his career. He’d had second thoughts about returning to challenge Oleksandr Usyk for his heavyweight titles, mentioning that he’d seen “gray” in his beard. Vanity made Fury not return.
Fans Say “Good Riddance” to Fury
Some fans on social media believe the sport is better off without Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) in it, as he’d been a dreadfully poor champion in his two stints as a heavyweight world champion. Moreover, many felt that ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury’s primary focus all along was to line his pockets with gold without fighting the best fighters. He was just in it for the money.
It’s not like Fury was trying to fight the best anyway, other than Usyk. The reason for that is the huge purses Turki Alalshikh was giving him.
“Never,” said Tyson Fury to Sky Sports this week when asked about whether he’d return to sport after being retired since last January. “Too old, look at my beard, all gray. Boxing is a young man’s game.”
Fury’s “Milked” Reigns Criticized
In Fury’s second stint as heavyweight champion, he defended his WBC and Ring titles against these fighters: Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte, Derek Chisora, and Oleksandr Usyk. In other words, Fury milked his titles, taking easy fights.
The Usyk fight was supposed to be an easy one as well due to Tyson’s massive size advantage. He didn’t realize until it was too late how talented Oleksandr was. If he’d known, he would have never fought him. Usyk would have been treated the same way other off-limits heavyweights have been by Tyson, fighters like Anthony Joshua, Agit Kabayel, and Joseph Parker.
Tyson Fury’s Legacy Questioned
His best career win came against 39-year-old Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. Fury briefly held the IBF, IBO, WBA, and Ring world titles. He then ballooned up to 400 lbs and wasn’t seen inside the ring until 2018. Let himself go completely. When he came back, he fought a ragtag bunch of weak heavyweights, one of them being Deontay Wilder, a paper champion.
Fans made a big deal out of his two victories over WBC champion Wilder, not realizing that he was never a good champion to begin with. He was just a guy who had picked up a world title against a weak champion, Bermane Stiverne, and milked it with 10 successful title defenses against soft opposition before losing to Fury.
Last Updated on 08/03/2025
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