Ex-titleholder says why Tyson Fury might leave

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The WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury’s countryman, George Groves, claimed that Tyson Fury’s boxing career might be near closure.

George Groves, a former super-middleweight champion who is retired, said this while talking to Boxing King Media, following Tyson Fury’s bad performance against boxing debutant Francis Ngannou. Ngannou had knocked down the British champion in the third round but later lost by a close split decision.

‘He might retire,’ Groves said. ‘It might be the last time we see him. It’s not a dig. It makes no sense that he has a life and death fight with a cage fighter who has been boxing for weeks and that he had to get up off of the floor to win.

‘He clearly wasn’t prepared and maybe he’d done a bit of training, but he hadn’t done any real training, any competitive training, his mindset was not there.

‘People have said time and time again that when people doubt Fury, that’s when he rises to the occasion and he has proven that in the past, but does he really want to do that now, at thirty-five-years-old with all the things that he has achieved?’

Tyson Fury’s next bout is against lineal heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. Reports say the fight might happen in February. Moreover, Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, announced that the bout must take place before April.

Speaking about this future contest, Groves predicted that Usyk the Ukrainian would defeat his countryman.

‘He has got this fight looming now with Oleksandr Usyk, who I believe beats him, and I thought that before seeing him fight Ngannou the other week,’ added Groves. ‘It will be major prize money and massive kudos for beating that guy [Usyk], but does that outweigh the risk of losing to him and living with that after?

‘I think that we are much more likely to see an Ngannou rematch, where Fury has done a bit more training than a last-man-standing fight against Usyk.’

What is next? Francis Ngannou said he will not face another professional boxer till after a rematch with Tyson Fury, while Tyson Fury happens to have signed a contract with Usyk that includes a rematch clause. This means that Fury and Usyk might not even meet in the ring next year.