‘I’ll support him 100 per cent’: Frank Warren reacts to Tyson Fury’s retirement claims

Fury has said he will retire after defending his heavyweight title against Dillian Whyte in April

Frank Warren has said he will support Tyson Fury “wholeheartedly” if the WBC heavyweight champion decides to retire after fighting Dillian Whyte next month.

Fury puts his title on the line against fellow Briton Whyte at Wembley Stadium on 23 April, and the “Gypsy King” has said that bout will mark his final contest as a professional boxer.

And Warren, Fury’s UK promoter, has said he will back any decision made by the unbeaten 33-year-old.

“If he decides to do that, then that’s his choice and we’ll support him wholeheartedly,” Warren told iFL TV.

“The last thing I want is for him to be getting into the ring if his mind and heart aren’t in it. If they’re not in it, then he shouldn’t be in the ring; it’s a dangerous place.

“He’s very, very wealthy, he’s done everything that’s been asked of him and it’s his choice, as I say. If he wants to carry on, there’s some great fights out there to be made with him, but if he doesn’t want to do it, I’m with him 100 per cent.”

Fury’s half-brother Tommy suggested last week that his elder sibling has nothing left to prove in the sport, and Warren echoed that sentiment – although he did lament the possibility of his fighter retiring without achieving undisputed status.

Tyson Fury is unbeaten at 31-0-1 (22 knockouts) (Getty Images)

“He hasn’t got anything to prove, no,” Warren said. “The only thing that didn’t happen is that he [didn’t] manage to fight someone for the four belts. That’s really what we wanted to see happen, that’s why we all would have liked to have seen him fight [Oleksandr] Usyk.”

Fury previously held the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts that Usyk now carries, and the Briton won the WBC title from Deontay Wilder in their second clash, in February 2020.

That bout followed their initial fight, which took place in December 2018 and ended as a controversial split draw. Fury and Wilder rounded out their trilogy in each man’s most recent outing, when the “Gypsy King” finished the American for the second time to retain the title.

“I don’t know [if the retirement claims are tongue-in-cheek],” Warren added. “[Fury] trains hard, I know training for him is a discipline in his life that he feels he needs. But if he wants to carry on boxing, that’s [about] whether he’s got the fire in his belly to continue doing it.

“I don’t walk in his shoes. At the end of the day, he’s the only person who is gonna know the answer to that. He’ll know the answer to that after his next fight.”