Tyson Fury 'wants to take some time' amid increasing retirement talk after crushing Oleksandr Usyk defeat

Tyson Fury 'wants to take some time' amid increasing retirement talk after crushing Oleksandr Usyk defeat

WATCH NOW: Tyson Fury defeat to Oleksandr Usyk analysed by Aidan Magee

Jack Otway

By Jack Otway


Published: 21/05/2024

- 10:27

The Gypsy King suffered the first defeat of his professional career on Saturday night

George Groves thinks Tyson Fury 'wants to go back home and take some time' in the wake of his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night, with retirement speculation currently ongoing.

There are fears Fury could choose to quit boxing, with Johnny Nelson saying he wouldn't be surprised to see the 35-year-old walk away from the sport.


Fury had gone into the bout with Usyk with no defeats to his name.

Yet he was rocked by the Ukrainian in Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening, with the 37-year-old winning on points.

Tyson Fury

Boxing news: George Groves can't see Tyson Fury retiring but thinks he wants to 'take some time' after his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk

REUTERS

Fury indicated he'd do a rematch with Usyk, but there's still a possibility he'll hang up his gloves.

Groves can't see that happening, though does feel the Briton will choose to 'take some time' out of boxing in order to get over his loss.

"I think Fury will certainly want to avenge that loss. He's a proud man," he told Sky Sports. "He's a proud fighter.

"He only has one loss on his record now, and it's Usyk, and he's got the opportunity to try and put that right and there were periods of rounds in that fight on Saturday night where he was in control and he was doing well.

"So he might want to go back to the drawing board and try and rebuild.

"But also Usyk is that sort of fighter who does improve fight upon fight, he gets better, and he will learn a lot.

"Fury would have learned a lot from that fight and he might be an even better version for the rematch. So it might be a totally different fight if they get it again.

"Fury versus Anthony Joshua is an exciting fight for Brits and worldwide everyone's been screaming about that fight for almost a decade now.

"That might be an option. He might decide 'I won't chase the belts, I'll go after Joshua'. Usyk might retire and then it's an opportunity for Fury to become world champion again, as I say maybe against Joshua or someone else, but if anything he wants to go back home and take some time."

Groves then proceeded to warn Fury about making any 'knee-jerk reactions' about his future in the sport.

He continued: "Don't make any knee-jerk reactions and decisions about this.

"It's a long time since he's lost. He'd only ever lost as an amateur, so he'll be broken-hearted for sure.

"But if he looks to fight on I think he showed that he wasn't a spent force.

"He's still firing on a lot of those cylinders. He's boxing well, so there's still fight in Tyson Fury left if he wants it.

"So it's up to him."

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Boxing news: George Groves thinks Tyson Fury will be 'broken-hearted' after his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk

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Fury was left bloodied following the bout, having been caught on his nose early on.

And Groves believes that injury could have impacted him and potentially made it harder for the 35-year-old to breathe.

"Usyk was just a really good fighter," he said. "They both were on their A-game really so they both brought their best.

"There's a nose injury that comes for Fury, which looked like it could have been bothering him.

"If your nose is broken or busted it starts filling up with blood, which makes it a little bit harder to breathe.

Oleksandr Usyk

Boxing news: Oleksandr Usyk is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world following his sensational win over Tyson Fury

REUTERS

"Usyk was applying that pressure from the get-go. He was trying to make Fury fight at an uncomfortable pace.

"So once he started landing, he started putting a little bit more on his shots, land them a little bit heavier in that second half of the fight, you know from rounds, eight, nine onwards, and then it's heavyweight boxing.

"It doesn't matter if the guy's five inches shorter and two-plus stone lighter, you're still going to have a significant force that is going to hurt it.

"It's going to buzz you to your feet and that's what Usyk did."

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