‘Nobody believed me anyway’: Tyson Fury explains decision to reverse retirement

Fury claimed to be retired after beating Dillian Whyte in April, but now he is back and eyeing another all-British heavyweight clash – this time with Anthony Joshua

Tyson Fury has said he got ‘bored with retirement’ before deciding to announce his return to the ring.

Fury last boxed in April, knocking out Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium in London to retain the WBC heavyweight title.

While Fury, 34, spent the following months claiming to be retired, the Briton never vacated the WBC belt, which he has since said he intends to defend before the end of the year.

“I got bored with retirement,” Fury told Ring magazine this week. “I had five months out the ring and I changed my mind.

“Nobody believed me anyway, did they? I would still have passed a lie detector test, though, for sure.”

On Monday (5 September), Fury offered compatriot Anthony Joshua the chance to fight him for the WBC heavyweight title, a proposition that Joshua accepted on Twitter.

Fury’s promoter Frank Warren and Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn have both said they are keen to make the fight, which many fans believed had slipped away for good last month, when Joshua suffered a second straight loss to Oleksandr Usyk.

Usyk, 35, outpointed Joshua, 32, last September to take the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles from the Briton. “AJ” lost to the unbeaten Ukrainian again this August while trying to regain the belts.

As such, a clash between Usyk and Fury, also undefeated, looked to be on the cards, with the winner of such a contest to be crowned undisputed heavyweight champion.

Usyk is unlikely to be fit in time for Fury’s desired December date, however, and so the “Gypsy King” has moved onto Joshua as a potential opponent.