Tyson Fury sets out new retirement plan to avoid same fate as Wladimir Klitschko

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Tyson Fury insists he won’t follow in the footsteps of Wladimir Klitschko and end his career getting beaten by rising stars.

Heavyweight great Klitschko saw out his illustrious time in the ring with back-to-back defeats by Fury and Anthony Joshua in 2015 and 2017. Fury first ended his nine-year reign as world heavyweight champion before Joshua sent him into retirement in a Wembley blockbuster.

But the Gypsy King – now 33 – has no plans to hang around for the fresh faces to come and knock him out. The WBC champion has stated this week that his clash with Dillian Whyte will be his last fight. But while that is unlikely to be the case, he insists he won’t be fighting for much longer.

He said: “Boxing for me doesn’t mean fighting world champions, young guys coming up because I’ve studied boxing and know the history of it. Every dog has his day whether you’re the greatest or not, age catches up very quickly so you’ve got to move over for the younger guys.

“Klitschko all those years ago, I said to him ‘you were a good champion in your day, a good man. But Father Time has caught up with you. I said ‘you’ve got to move over for the younger guys coming through, give us a chance’. I’m the same now and I’m not far off the same age Wladimir was when I beat him.

“There are some guys, Bob’s top American guy, Jared Anderson, coming through. Twenty-two years old, the guy is unbelievable. I tipped him as a future heavyweight champion as soon as I sparred him. You’ve got guys like that coming through. Guys like Filip Hrkovic, Tony Yoka, Joe Joyce.

“The mistake Wladimir made was he wanted to take on the next era of champions and it didn’t work out for him. The mistake Roy Jones made was not fighting Mike Tyson after Ruiz and walking away as one of the greatest fighters who ever lived. They all go on too long, for what reason I don’t know. I do know and they can’t get away from it because they love it too much. It’s a way of life, it’s all you know and what to know.”

Fury insists he only has two more fights in him. He said: “I’m not in this for a long time, I’m in it for a good time. I’ve got a couple of fights left and then that’s me done. I’m getting too old for this, I’m too long in the tooth for this – I’m 34 this year.

“I’ve had everything to deal with, weight loss, up and down, alcohol problems, drug problems. I’m probably round about 60 when it comes to boxing years. I’m still batting on, taking care of things, I’m going to take care of a few fights and then we’ll see.

“I’m looking forward to all these fights. Whatever fights come up next, they’re the ones I’m looking forward to. Don’t overlook anybody, give everybody the respect they deserve as an opponent because the minute you overlook an opponent, you fall off the cliff and die.”

• Dillian Whyte
• Tyson Fury
• Wladimir Klitschko

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