Tyson Fury returns to the ring this weekend when he puts his WBC heavyweight world title on the line against Derek Chisora at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The third meeting between the British duo will be The Gypsy King’s second fight of 2022, having stopped Dillian Whyte in six rounds back in April.
Following his sensational win over The Body Snatcher, Fury claimed he would be retiring from boxing.
Many were dubious over his claims and believed that the 34-year-old would be back in action before the end of the year. They were right of course, but Fury insists that his intentions to hang up his gloves were genuine.
“100% I meant it,” Fury told The Sportsman.
“It's not that I’m more in love with boxing now, because I'm not in love with it. It's been a love-hate relationship ever since I’ve been a gym rat in Phoenix Camp in Moss Side and knocking s*** over when I was training with my dad. It was things like the amateurs, winning belts, dark times, coming back and then winning belts again.
“I said to myself when I was about 20, like when is enough, enough? I wanted to buy my own house, I wanted to be a multi-time world champion, I wanted to be undefeated and I wanted to beat good people. I've done all that. I thought that going out at Wembley in front of 90,000 people was good enough.”
However, Fury’s transition away from the sweet science to the mundane travails of ordinary life was far from a smooth one and the Wythenshawe-born two-time world champion believes he isn’t “built for normal life.”
“I get home, I’m retired and I’m taking the kids to school, walking the dog, picking up dog s***, and I'm thinking like, I've traded being heavyweight champion of the world to picking up dog s*** on the side of the road. Like, What the f*** am I doing? I’m not built for normal life I don’t think. I don't think I can ever go back to that.
“It's like being a superstar DJ and then going ‘that's it now guys, thank you very much. I'm going to play at the leisure centre in Morecambe’. It's a big come down and it takes a lot of getting used to and I don't think I'm ready for that now and I don't know when I'm going to be ready.
“I don't know if I can ever be ready for retirement and this is the problem. Right now, I'm in a very big dilemma with boxing because I’m in my prime. I’m worn out basically, however, I’m still undefeated and still going. How long will this last? How long can I keep going for? And what happens when it’s not there any more? The answer to that question is that I don’t know and that's why I'm back.
“There were four months when I was actually retired and refused a lot of money to come back and stuff to do other fights and things. It was four months later and I had my little bit of being at home with the family, taking the kids to school and all that, and I was like what do I do? I'm getting up in the morning, I'm getting up at half past six, going to bed at 9pm, going to the gym twice a day, but I don't have a target to go to the gym for.
“I definitely need a purpose and I don’t know what that’s going to be. Maybe I’ll go back to being a used car salesman and open myself a little pitch in Morecambe somewhere. Give myself a job so I can get up at 7am, go to the gym, come back and then go to work.”
*18+ | BeGambleAware
