Tyson Fury has quashed talk of a comeback to fight British heavyweight rival
Anthony Joshua by insisting he'd only end his retirement for a trilogy fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
“If I was going to come back, I'd come back for Usyk, but I want a fair result in England,” Fury said at an IBA event in Istanbul, Turkey.
“That would be the one I want. That would be the fight I'd want next. I've only won 50 times and each time, I never ever see a way for him to win, but I know they can do what they want. They say it's Tuesday, it's Tuesday. I've always said I never give a [expletive] about anybody's opinion until it [expletive] up my life.”
Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) was beaten twice by
Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) in 2024. The first defeat, on May 18, was by split decision but Fury was hurt badly in the ninth round of that fight and arguably could've been stopped having suffered a knockdown.
Usyk won their second encounter more convincingly in December, with all three scorecards reading 116-112 in favour of the Ukrainian.
A few weeks later
Fury announced his retirement from the sport. There has been talk, most of it from Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn, that efforts would be made to coax the Gypsy King out of retirement for what would be the biggest British fight of all time.
Fury, however, doesn't seem interested.
He continued: “What would I be coming back for? I've won every belt, haven't I? Does the love of the sport overthrow my health? You've got to worry about your health, because your health is your wealth.
“It's a great sport and everything I've got I owe to the game of boxing and I'm very appreciative.
“I've had a love-hate relationship with boxing for 25 years. Like all great relationships, it's got to have ups and downs but the inevitable in my game is you make your bed, you lie in it and, yeah, I'm still very much in love with the game. I train regularly, I do all of the above.
“Got paid, got laid, got out of there. Happy days. Went home to my family, and now I'm happy. I'm at home in Morecambe. I train twice a day, I go out, I can have a beer when I want. I go eat what I want. I stay out late. I can do what the [expletive] I want. You know why? Because I've earned the right to.”