Tyson Fury insists he would demolish fellow world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, but reiterated that his retirement means the blockbuster fight will never happen.
The self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy King’ successfully defended his WBC, The Ring and lineal titles in emphatic fashion on his UK homecoming in front of 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night, dominating mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte before inflicting a devastating knockout at the end of round six.
After easing to the 32nd victory of his undefeated professional career, Fury once again claimed that he would walk away from boxing to spend more time with wife Paris and the couple’s six children.
He repeated that stance again during an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Talk TV on Wednesday night, defiantly stating that he was perfectly content with his significant achievements to date as he looks to become only the second heavyweight champion to retire unbeaten, after the great Rocky Marciano.
Speaking to talkSPORT on Thursday, Fury said again: “I’ve already been the undisputed champion, I’ve won every single belt there is to win. I’ve got nothing more to do. I am out, fully retired, done.”
The widespread scepticism to greet Fury’s latest retirement declarations comes as a result of the fact that to do so now would be to miss out on the tantalising - not to mention money-spinning - chance to become the first undisputed champion of boxing’s blue-riband division since Lennox Lewis.
After making short work of Whyte, the 33-year-old would now be in line for a mammoth and lucrative showdown for all the world titles later in the year against either Usyk or long-time domestic rival Anthony Joshua, with that pair going head to head for the second time for the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO belts on July 23, likely in Saudi Arabia.
And while Fury insists a meeting with Usyk will never come to pass, he believes he would easily beat Ukraine’s former undisputed cruiserweight king and now unified heavyweight star.
“It’s never going to happen, because I’m retired,” he said. “But let’s just say, I’d punch him around the ring. Because he’s a middleweight, blown up.”
