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COLIN HART
Tyson Fury retirement would be the right decision – it’s no good raking in a fortune if you’re unable to spend it
Our Voice of Boxing warned Fury to take a look at how two boxing greats ended up
TYSON FURY is on his way to making more comebacks than Frank Sinatra if the sceptics are to be believed.
He has never found it difficult to change his mind after announcing he’s hanging up his gloves.
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Unexpectedly on Monday, Fury — for the fourth time — said he is quitting but nobody is sure if he really means it or if he’s behaving like a naughty schoolboy sniggering at everyone after pulling off a prank.
If true it means he has snubbed a mega-million-pound showdown with bitter rival Anthony Joshua this summer to the disappointment of so many fans who waited ten years for it to happen.
But I hope this time he is being sincere because it is the sensible thing to do.
The two-time world heavyweight champion is 36 and has been a pro for 16 years and, hopefully, understands it’s better he doesn’t fight again for his long-term health.
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The years of intense training, weight reducing and taking punches to the head in sparring sessions — besides the big-occasion real wars — eventually takes a heavy toll on the body however good a boxer is.
You either love or loathe the Gypsy King but no one can deny he deserves a long and happy retirement — a just reward for the entertainment he has provided.
There are horror stories concerning the fate of so many elite fighters who have continued fighting long after their prime, Muhammad Ali being the classic example.
Yet another tragic saga to prove the point concerns Don Curry, 63.
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Not his first retirement...
THIS isn't the first time Tyson Fury has retired.
His first came 12 YEARS ago, when in 2013 he grew frustrated when a fight with David Haye fell through.
He declared at the time: "Hi everyone, I have officially retired from boxing. There's too many bent [crooked] people in the sport. They will have to f*** someone else. Goodbye boxing."
Then, he took a three-year break from the sport between 2015 and 2018, during which many didn't expect to see him again.
In 2022 he retired TWICE.
Speaking in the ring after defeating Dillian Whyte at Wembley with a sixth-round finish, he revealed he'd made a promise to wife Paris.
He stated: "I'm a two-time undisputed world champion. [I have] £150million in the bank and nothing to prove to anybody."
Later in the year, he stated his plan to "100 per cent" return to the ring.
But then just four days later he posted on X that he was quitting again.
He posted: “Massive thanks to everyone who had an input in my career over the years & after long hard conversations I’ve finally decided to walk away & on my 34th birthday I say Bon voyage.”
It means there will be serious doubts that his latest declaration truly means we'll never see him in the ring again.
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The Texan former undisputed world welterweight and light-middleweight champ was recognised as the best fighter on Earth 40 years ago.
In 1994, three years after retiring, Curry was charged and acquitted of supplying cocaine — but the cost of his legal fees financially ruined him.
Anthony Joshua's 'reaction' to Tyson Fury retirement revealed by Eddie Hearn as £500m fight lies in tatters
Because he could no longer afford to pay child support he ended up spending six months in jail.
Desperate for money six years after he’d packed it in, he made a comeback at 36.
He took a severe seven-round beating and now suffers from severe brain disease.
Fury might also like to know of the conversation I overheard at the poolside of a Kuala Lumpur hotel a few hours after Ali had outpointed Joe Bugner, 50 years ago.
While Ali was confined to bed with heat exhaustion, Bugner was swimming and drinking champagne.
Promoter Mickey Duff, angry at Bugner for running from Ali like a thief for 15 rounds, said: “I suppose, Joe, at the end of the day, the name of the game is money.”
Quick as an Ali left jab, Bugner replied: “Yes, Mickey — and being able to spend it.”
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