Tyson Fury says he’ll fight for a long time after Ngannou, Usyk،
Tyson Fury briefly retired last year, a hiatus that lasted four months before scheduling a trilogy fight in December with Derek Chisora.
Fury is scheduled to meet former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2 p.m. ET, ESPN+ PPV), and is then already contractually committed to an undisputed heavyweight championship fight heavy with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) told ESPN on Thursday that he won’t stop fighting anytime soon after this.
“I’m looking to sign another 10-fight contract after this, so I don’t know, I’ll put my feelers out there and see who I can get the best contract for another 10 fights,” Fury said. , who signed a multi-fight deal with Top Rank in 2019.
“What else is there? I’m retiring, a lot of money, a lot of achievements, whatever — 35 [years old]. What am I going to do? …It makes me happy to fight. That’s all I did and all that made me happy. So it would be stupid now to walk away from it when I’m making millions of dollars and getting a lot of joy from it too. »
Fury, nicknamed “The Gypsy King,” is already an all-time great heavyweight, but can greatly enhance his legacy with two wins over Usyk, who is three spots ahead of Fury on ESPN’s pound-for-pound list at No. 3. .
The long-awaited clash between England’s Fury and Ukraine’s Usyk is tentatively scheduled for December 23 in Riyadh, sources said, but the date will only be finalized after Fury’s fight with Ngannou. The Usyk deal contains a two-way rematch clause, sources say, which will likely lead to a rematch next year.
Fury’s WBC heavyweight title won’t be on the line in his 10-round fight with Ngannou and it won’t count against their records. But Fury needs to come out injury-free if he wants to fight Usyk less than two months later.
“A lot of people are talking about this undisputed, fantastic fight,” said Fury, ESPN’s No. 1 heavyweight. “But I have a much more dangerous person to face next Saturday than after for the undisputed fight, I believe.
Because Francis is a bigger man, stronger, more powerful and capable of KOing. As we saw with Oleksandr Usyk, he doesn’t really do a lot of damage to the people he hits. So you could probably let Usyk hit you the whole match.” If you let Ngannou hit you in the head, he’ll probably shake your brain. “
Ngannou, 37, is one of the greatest punchers in UFC history, but he has never boxed pro or amateur. Usyk, on the other hand, is an Olympic gold medal-winning boxer who is the former undisputed cruiserweight champion. He successfully defended his three heavyweight titles by scoring a ninth-round knockout of Daniel Dubois in August.
Ngannou’s last fight took place in January 2022 when he defeated Ciryl Gane inside the Octagon.
“He’s not going to do anything I’ve never seen before,” said Fury, who upset Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 for the unified championship. “I’ve fought with a lot of kickboxers and MMA fighters over the years. They’re all strong, tough guys, and they can usually all take a good beating.
“So I expect him to be fit, strong and motivated. He makes a ton of money to be here and fight, so I’m sure he’ll have a good game plan, and I’m sure that it is. I will try to execute it.
Fury has said he’s in his prime, and it’s hard to argue with that. He showed no signs of slowing down during this second act, which notably included two victories over Deontay Wilder over the distance. The trilogy fight with Wilder, which Fury won via 11th-round knockout, was named ESPN’s Fight of the Year and 2021 KO of the Year.
Fury went 2-0 last year, with TKO victories in London over Whyte and Chisora. All of this success came after Fury gained more than 400 pounds while suffering from depression and drug addiction that sidelined him for two and a half years.
Today, he is arguably boxing’s top star after Canelo Alvarez and is fighting Ngannou on the heels of a hit Netflix reality show.
Fury also dabbled in WWE, but said he was probably done wrestling.
“WWE is too difficult for me,” Fury said. “Boxing is a lot easier than WWE. It’s very physical and taxing on the body. WWE, getting slammed to the ground and all that kind of stuff. I prefer to move around the ring and dodge punches .”
After all, that’s why Fury is best. And at least for the moment, he seems to want to fight for a long time.
“I’ve been boxing for 15 years as a professional,” said Fury, who underwent surgery on both elbows in 2021. “I’m going to be prone to injuries, you know, elbows, knees, shoulders, ankles, to everything that can go wrong about someone usually at our age now, it goes wrong.”
“Boxing is definitely more fun when I’m there,” Fury added. “I will say boxing will be screwed when I’m gone.”
