Plenty of people are having their say about whether or not Tyson Fury should retire, and Tony Bellew is the latest former boxer to add his verdict.
Fury has had a long and successful career that has seen him win just about everything there is to win. Early in his journey, he picked up belts at British, Commonwealth and European level before stepping up to take on the long-reigning world champion Wladimir Klitschko on foreign soil in Germany back in 2015.
Fury scored a historic points win that night by keeping the big punching Ukrainian at bay for all 12 rounds, but then had a bout of depression that kept him away from the ring.
His return saw him build up momentum quickly and soon challenge Deontay Wilder for the WBC world title in 2018. The first fight ended in a controversial draw but Fury won the next two and then defended his belt against the likes of Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora.
In May, he took another step up by challenging former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleander Usyk for all four belts in the heavyweight division.
Fury narrowly missed out on the win after a close 12 rounds. The pair rematched back in December and Usyk won again to cement his name in the history books as a generational great.
With having nothing left to prove – as well as having been knocked down several times across his career, particularly in the tough trilogy with Wilder – many now think it is time for Fury to retire.
Speaking to The Express, however, former world champion Bellew thinks ‘The Gypsy King’ will carry on in order to fight Anthony Joshua if no one else.
“I don’t think that ship will ever sail. You’re telling me you couldn’t stick 100,000 in Wembley to watch those two fight? Everyone wants to see it. The sad part is that it will be when both are just slightly past their sell-by date, by the looks of it.”
He then suggested that Joshua had never backed down from a big fight.
“You have to remember, the only person who has signed up to these fights and hasn’t pulled out is Anthony Joshua. He signed to fight Fury, he signed to fight [Deontay] Wilder, he’s fought Usyk twice, he’s fought [Wladimir] Klitschko. He signed to fight Tyson Fury and Fury had to pull out because of the arbitration from Wilder. He signed to fight Wilder and Wilder pulled out because of the mess he was in with Fury.”
Despite the difficulties making the fight to date, Bellew is confident it will still happen.
“It’s a mess, really, but 100 per cent that fight will happen one day. It’s huge. It’s a massive blockbuster event and it will probably go down as the biggest domestic boxing match ever.”
Many fans will hope Bellew is right. With Joshua coming off a loss of his own to the division’s other champion, Daniel Dubois, neither man has a better option.
