Tyson Fury knows retirement well having announced it himself on two occasions only to return to the ring.
At the very peak of his campaign following an upset win over long-reigning Wladimir Klitschko, Fury left the sport amidst battles with drugs, alcohol and mental health.
He would return, quite spectacularly, in 2018 to have two warm-up fights before going in with hard-hitting WBC Heavyweight World Champion Deontay Wilder.
The pair fought to a contentious draw but Fury, who switched trainer, produced an emphatic stoppage in the return fight. He would do the same in the trilogy, albeit after surviving knockdowns delivered by the American.
Wilder took a year out before knocking Robert Helenius out in one round to remind his rivals of the dangers in his right hand. Another long period of inactivity followed before coming up against fellow former champion Joseph Parker.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ was uncharacteristically gun-shy and lost a shutout on the cards. His shot at redemption ended badly when Zhilei Zhang knocked him out in five.
Speaking on the Pound 4 Pound podcast, Fury urged his former opponent to hang up the gloves at 39-years-old.
“Being truthful, I’d like to see poor old Deontay retire from boxing. When I beat Wilder he was 44-0 with 43 knockouts, and he knocked out the guy who went the distance with him in a rematch. That means he knocked out every single person he ever faced.
Obviously he lost the three fights to me. We took a lot of years off of each other’s lives. That war that ended in the eleventh round by knockout, that takes a lot out your tank and you don’t recover from fights like that. Between me and Wilder in our trilogy there were ten knockdowns. It takes a lot out of a fighter.
Even when he’s come back and had a couple of fights since against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, he’s only a shadow of his former glory. The only thing left of Deontay is his name. And that’s it. So I’d like to see him retire for sure before he does damage to himself.”
Wilder’s trainer Malik Scott has confirmed he will fight on, though no news on a return date has been forthcoming.
As for Fury, he enters another rematch later this year having lost to Oleksandr Usyk in May. He will have a chance to win three of the four major heavyweight belts when he runs it back with the Ukrainian on December 21.
