By Shaun Murphy-
Tyson Fury has insisted that he will not fight on following his WBC heavyweight title win over Dillian Whyte at Wembley.
The 33-year-old world heavyweight boxer insisted he will hang up his gloves after stopping Dillian Whyte in six rounds at Wembley stadium.
Appearing as a guest on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Talk TV on Wednesday evening, Fury affirmed his desire to hang up his gloves.
“This is the truth, the gospel truth, nothing but the truth – I’m done,” Fury said. “Every good dog has its day and like the great Roman leader said, there will always be somebody else to fight.
“When is enough enough? I’m happy, I’m healthy, I’ve still got my brains and I can still talk. I’ve got a beautiful wife, six kids, I’ve got umpteen belts, plenty of money, success, fame, glory – what more am I doing it for?
“Boxing is a very dangerous sport. You can be taken out with one punch as we’ve seen on Saturday and it’s one unlucky blow and you may not get up off that canvas.
“I’m quitting while I’m ahead, I’m undefeated and only the second man in history to retire as undefeated heavyweight champion. I’m very, very happy, very content in my heart with what I’ve done and what I’ve achieved.”
If Saturday’s contest in front of 94,000 fans at Wembley, Fury’s professional boxing career ends with a 32(23)-0-1 record and follows American great Rocky Marciano (49(43)-0) as the only other heavyweight champion to retire undefeated.
“It’s not worth it,” Fury said. “I’ve got four young kids to raise and two older ones, I’ve been away for the last 10 years all over the world travelling for boxing.
“When do I get time to be a father, a husband, a brother, a son? I need this personal time. The fans will always want more, they’re always baying for more blood, but at the end of the day I don’t have any more to give. I’ve given everything I’ve got, I’ve been a professional for 14 years and been boxing for over 20 years.
“Every good dog has its day in the sun and my time is to go out on a high. I always said I wanted to walk away on top of the sport and do it on my terms and didn’t want to be the person who said I should have been retired two years ago or whatever.
“They will not forget ‘The Gypsy King’ in a hurry – and no amount of material assets or money will make me come back out of retirement because I’m very happy.
The unbeaten gypsy king is undoubtedly the best heavyweight of his generation, but would have been better off quitting the boxing scene unifying the titles. That has always been the traditional way of proving to be the best in his division.
The boxing world is unified in the belief that Fury is the best heavyweight today. His two clear defeats of Deontey Wilder over six years after he ended Wladimir Klitschko’s reign proves that. Not many people believe that either Anthony Joshua or Olegsander Usyk would have beaten Fury in a unification fight, which is why it will be a shame if he doesn’t actually add the undisputed belts one more time to his achievements.
Fury’s father, John Fury, desperately wants to see him unify the belts and retire as undisputed world champion.
An early retirement for Fury will mean Anthony Joshua will never get the chance to attempt to take Fury’s unbeaten record even if he were to avenge his defeat to Usyk this summer. That will be a devastating blow to the former undisputed world champion who Fury has already disregarded as a man who will not win his rematch to regain his belts.
It could mean Fury getting the glory for belts he didn’t unify upon retirement, because he was too big for those belts, and didn’t need them to prove he was the best.
Deontey Wilder will be the most likely person to regain the belt he lost to Fury once he is gone, and will probably be the one to inherit all the belts in the end.