By Sulaimon Jamiu
Heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury returned to the ring to defend his WBC title against fellow countryman Dillian Whyte before 94,000 plus spectators at Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
It was the fifth time in heavyweight history a title fight featured two boxers from England, per statistics & Information research. The champion also retained his belt in the previous four instances.
Fury remained on top of the heavyweight division, with a perfectly timed right uppercut that sent Dillian Whyte crashing to the mat for a sixth-round TKO victory.
The obvious next fight for him is a matchup with the winner of the July 23 rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, a bout that would crown boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era.
Instead, Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) swears he will hang up his gloves and bypass the riches such a fight promises to keep a vow.
“I promised my lovely wife, Paris, of 14 years that after the Wilder 3 fight, that would be it. And I meant it,” said Fury, ESPN’s No. 1 heavyweight.
“We had a war. It was a great trilogy. And I meant that. But I got offered to fight at Wembley at home, and I believe that I deserved that I owed it to the fans, I owed it to every person in the United Kingdom to come here and fight at Wembley.
“Now it’s all done. And I have to be a man of my word. And I think this is it. This might be the final curtain for ‘the Gypsy King.’ And what a way to go out!”
And with that apparent farewell message, Fury broke out into one of his favorite songs, and the song that first rang out before he walked to the ring, Don McLean’s “American Pie.”
But it is hard to believe Fury has fought for the final time at 33 years old. His father doesn’t even believe this is it. Fury left the door open for another fight or five when he said, “I think this is it.” Almost assuredly, he’ll be back. He has long yearned to become undisputed, and a bout against either Usyk or Joshua could earn him a purse close to nine figures.
