Tyson Fury loves playing mind games; with his opponents, both past and present, and with us fans. Latest case in point – Fury’s vow to retire after his upcoming fight with Dillian Whyte. Fury, who of course says he is going to destroy Whyte, “give him a good hiding, smash him,” told us all he would then be “out.” Gone. Finished.
Fury is most definitely a very rich man and though the age of 33 is not at all what we could call advanced for a modern day heavyweight, Fury may mean it when he says he hasn’t got long left. Fury also says he has “nothing left to prove,” nothing further to accomplish. That’s debatable. If, or you may say, when Fury beats Whyte, we would all be calling for him to fight the Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua winner (whenever this fight, troubled by the troubles in Ukraine as it is, actually takes place).
That fight would have to happen, and if it didn’t, if Fury instead walked away not having faced either Usyk or his countryman and long-time domestic rival Joshua, it would leave a hole as far as Fury’s legacy is concerned; whether he likes it or not or whether Fury agrees with this or not. Fury’s perfect career ending would be him going out as undisputed heavyweight king. And we fans want to see Fury going in there with Usyk and/or Joshua – certainly the winner of their rematch.
For Fury to leave before having this fight would be a case of him leaving us short, and Fury would be leaving himself short. A win over his rival heavyweight champion, whoever it is, would see Fury clean up his era. There would basically be nobody left to fight. But Fury does need the big one before he can go.
So will Fury go through with his retirement vow this time? It’s far from the first time Fury has said he will quit the sport, and as a result, Fury is like the boy who cried wolf. Fury might mean it this time, but we stopped believing him and his retirement vows long ago. Fury is a true fighting man and I for one do not think he will be able to walk away with that one big, indeed crucial fight, left undone.
Fury will beat Whyte; that’s the prediction here. But he will not hang up his gloves afterwards. At least not straight afterwards.
