Tyson Fury: Heavyweight champion says he may quit boxing

  • Published
Tyson Fury and Wladimir KlitschkoImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Tyson Fury (right) shocked Wladimir Klitschko to win on points

World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has still not decided if he will fight Wladimir Klitschko again and could quit boxing.

Fury upset Klitschko to claim the WBA, IBF and WBO titles in November and is due to take on the Ukrainian in a rematch in May or June.

But the Briton, 27, told BBC Radio 5 live: "I'm struggling to get motivated.

"I could walk away. I could just sail into the sunset unbeaten with all the belts and live a normal life."

He added: "All that I would be boxing for is money and I always thought to myself I never want to let sport become about money."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Fury has won all 25 of his professional fights

Fury said he wants to spend a lot of time with his young family and is not interested in securing a legacy or winning more belts.

"I've accomplished a dream," he said. "It's about how much motivation I have to keep going on.

"There is life after boxing and I don't know what I'm going to do at the moment. I haven't even cemented I am going to fight in a rematch."

Media caption,

Tyson Fury: Evander Holyfield urges heavyweight champion to continue

Fury revealed he had not returned to training in the ring yet, although he said he had been jogging and lifting weights.

Klitschko had not been beaten since 2004 and his second reign as champion included 19 successful defences. The 39-year-old took up his option of a rematch in December.

Fury says his shock victory in Dusseldorf, Germany will be the most significant of his career, no matter what he goes on to achieve.

"If I win another 50 fights, it's not going to mean as much," he said.

"I believe I'll be frozen in 2015 for the next 40 years, or however long I live for. Nothing's going to outdo that achievement."

Analysis

BBC Radio 5 live boxing correspondent Mike Costello:

"A lot of successful sports personalities will relate to what Fury has been telling me. Having achieved a lifelong ambition, suddenly they have to realign their targets and find different sources of motivation.

"Fury said to me that when he walks in the gym, he's not sure how he will feel. Yet he seems like a man born for the big occasion. He seems to be at his best under pressure, like Lennox Lewis before him and so many other great heavyweight champions."

A $120m fight on a yacht?

Fury told Costello he had rejected two lucrative offers from the Middle East - Dubai and Qatar - to meet Klitschko over there.

One of them involved the owner of a super yacht. He wanted to stage the fight in front of 120 friends, who would each pay $1m (£683,000) for the privilege.

There would be no television cameras, no radio commentators and no website or newspaper reporters present, just the two fighters, their support teams and the 120 spectators.

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