Tyson Fury is back and full of fire, the former heavyweight champion giving multiple interviews, this after he had been noticeably low-profile for some time over the summer. And Fury has got the old bluster back.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)
Fury says he is in “seek and destroy mode” going into his must-win rematch with current heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk, saying he “cannot leave it in the hands of the judges this time.”
That fight cannot come fast enough, as fascinating as it is. Will it be a repeat or revenge on December 21 in Riyadh? Regardless of the outcome, Fury says, he and long-time British rival Anthony Joshua will fight one day because they “have to fight.”
Fury, speaking with TNT Sports last night, said, “We will have to fight for the fans of this country.”
Now, not everything Fury says can be taken at anything like face value; Fury has come out with some pretty outlandish things over the years. But Fury does seem serious when he says he and AJ will, finally, give us the fight we have wanted to see for so long.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s lost one fight or 21, he will never escape The Gypsy King,” Fury said of Joshua. “He will always have to fight me. It doesn’t matter if he’s 49, 42, 55, or 65, we will fight. I don’t care if he never wins another fight for 20 years; we will have to fight for the fans of this country.”
Whether we see this all-British showdown may depend on what happens in Joshua’s next fight; if Joshua boxes Daniel Dubois a second time and is KO’d a second time, Joshua may well opt to retire. We don’t know, but would a Fury-Joshua fight have any real appeal if Joshua was going into it having been KO’d twice on the spin?
As for Fury’s rematch with Usyk, he may decide to walk away if he loses again. Could Fury’s ego handle two losses to the same man? And what if Fury is stopped or knocked out in the Usyk rematch? That could prove to be too big a hit for Fury, the self-proclaimed greatest ever, to be able to take.
But Fury is talking big going into the December rematch, saying he is “ready to go tonight.”
“I’m ready to rock and roll,” Fury said. “I don’t need a 12-week camp. I’ve been boxing all my life. I’m ready to go tonight, tomorrow, next weekend. All I need is five weeks of good sparring this time.”
Whether additional sparring will help Fury against Usyk this time, we will have to wait and see.
