Tyson Fury is almost done with his boxing career, and when that’s over, he’s coming for Francis Ngannou.
Next month, Fury, who is the WBC and lineal heavyweight champion, will defend his title against fellow British heavyweight Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium in London. And according to “The Gypsy King” that will be all she wrote for his professional boxing career.
“This is the final countdown of ‘The Gypsy King.’ Hollywood awaits,” Fury told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “This is my retirement fight. 100,000 people at Wembley, all British world title fight. Return of the Mack after four years to the U.K. This is it, going out on a high. Retiring on top. Two-time world heavyweight champion and I’ll have made eight defenses of the lineal championship. Never to lose a fight. To go down as only the second heavyweight in history to retire unbeaten. Me and Rocky Marciano.”
Fury is one of the biggest stars in boxing and would be walking away from a number of highly lucrative match ups. However, Fury won’t be walking away from combat sports entirely. Though the former unified heavyweight champion says this will be the end of his boxing career, Fury says that doesn’t mean he won’t still fight in the future. Specifically, Fury noted that he is still interested in facing UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a special rules bout.
“I don’t count that as a real boxing fight,” Fury said. “That’s not a boxing fight. That’s gonna be a ‘special’ fight. That will be in a cage in four-ounce gloves, in Las Vegas, at the Raiders Stadium....
“I will have retired from competitive, championship boxing and I’ll be ready to do the crossover fights completely. He won’t be the UFC heavyweight champion anymore, I won’t be the WBC heavyweight champion anymore, but I will still be the lineal heavyweight champion because they can’t take that from me!”
Fury and Ngannou have been hyping a potential match up over the last few months, with Fury proposing a boxing match using MMA gloves and taking place in a cage. Ngannou has noted his own interest in the bout and Fury believes that having the fight take place under a modified ruleset will make the bout that much more exciting.
“We’ve got Francis Ngannou, he’s a big guy, a big dangerous guy,” Fury said. “I’d love to see, people going on, ‘Oh, it’s not a fair fight in 10-ounce gloves,’ and that’s correct. It wouldn’t be a fair fight in 10-ounce gloves because like [Daniel] Cormier said recently, he said Francis Ngannou is a much cruder version of Deontay Wilder, and we all know what happened there. So I think if we’re doing four-ounce gloves, he’d have a bit more chance of knocking me out, but then again, I’d have a bit more chance of knocking him out also. So it makes for an exciting fight. And I will try to come in at my heaviest for that fight. I’ll try to come in over 300 pounds... Just to nail him to the canvas with one solid punch.”
The bout would undoubtedly sell extremely will but it’s still a long way off from reality. Fury notes that there have been no discussions about the fight as of yet and likely won’t be for some time. Ngannou is currently recovering from a knee injury that will likely keep him out for the remainder of the year and also reportedly remains tied to the UFC until December, having fought out his contract but being subject to the UFC champion’s clause. Once that’s all over with though, and assuming Fury has successfully retired unbeaten, then “The Gypsy King” says they can start looking to the future.
“I’ve got Dillian Whyte deal with,” Fury said. “... When I get through this fight that I’m concentrating on at the moment, we will deal with whatever is gonna happen next.”
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