Tyson Fury still insists that his fight against Dillian Whyte this Saturday night will be the last of his career before he retires. Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) says he has no desire to fight his contemporaries in the sport and doesn’t care what people think of him.
There’s little doubt that if Fury successfully defends his WBC heavyweight title against challenger Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) on Saturday night, there will be huge offers from promoters for him to battle the winner of the July rematch between IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua.
If Fury can turn down offers of countless millions, he would show the kind of man that he is because few people would reject the chance to make generational money that would keep his kids wealthy their entire lives and their children’s children well.
“Why to opt for the more fan-friendly, aggressive style which opens you up to danger?” said Max Kellerman of ESPN to Fury. “You got dropped by Deontay Wilder in the third fight [and the first fight x 2] when you can make him miss all night?”
“Let’s not make any mistakes here. Dillian Whyte ain’t no Deontay Wilder,” said Fury. “I don’t mind saying that to anybody. He’s no Deontay Wilder.
“Deontay Wilder is like holding a stick of dynamite in your hands and seeing how long you can hold it for,” said Tyson making it clear that he doesn’t view Whyte as being as dangerous as Deontay.
“You said people should blame Bob Arum about your retirement talk because he’s made you so much money,” Kellerman told Fury. “I understand this is a dangerous sport.
“I never try to talk a fighter out of walking away if he wants to, but as a fan, we’ve never seen a guy like you at your size do the things you do. When I look at your division, I see some of your contemporaries that you have yet to beat.
“How would you feel about walking away before beating all of your contemporaries?”
“I’d feel pretty good because I’m not interested in legacies and all that sort of thing,” said Fury. “I’ve said many times; I don’t care about what people say about me and don’t care about how I’m remembered.
“If I were bothered about legacies, I’d keep fighting forever, wouldn’t I? I’d never call it a day until I was old and punch-drunk,” said Fury.
“Considering I’ve made a lot of money and don’t all that I’ve wanted to do x 10 million, and I’m undefeated, two-time heavyweight champion, set a lot of records, broke a lot of records, I’m happy to walk away because there’s always going to be somebody else to fight.
“I’ll be happy to go home and enjoy my wife and kids. I believed I’d earned enough of that opportunity to do that. I want to go out as Rocky Marciano did at the top of the heavyweight pile,” said Fury.