Former world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury says he’s “still got it” as he promised to focus on work in his latest return to the ring.
After a 15-month absence, the 37-year-old Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) faces 36-year-old Russian-born heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov (21-2, 19 KOs) in a bout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.
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The pair spoke during a pre-fight news conference in London on Thursday, hours after Croke Park’s chief executive said the 80,000-capacity Dublin venue wanted to stage the long-awaited Battle of Britain super-fight between Fury and fellow former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
Fury and Joshua have almost fought on several occasions, only for contract disputes, fitness issues and losses elsewhere to derail previous attempts to get them in the same ring.
Their camps were reportedly close to an agreement before Joshua decided to take time off from boxing following a car accident that resulted in the deaths of two close friends in December.
Joshua, 36, is now back in training and was fresh off Dereck Chisora’s defeat to Deontay Wilder last Saturday.
Fury insisted on Thursday: “I don’t want to mention names when I have a dangerous fighter in front of me. The rest can find a place to hide but I have to give Makhmudov a place to hide first.”
He added: “Like I said when Daniel Dubois was fighting Anthony Joshua (in 2024), everybody said and all the boxing minds said, ‘AJ is going to knock him out inside three rounds,’ and they were ignoring him. ‘Are you going to fight Tyson next?’
“And I said you better put some respect on Dubois’ name because he’s going to hurt it and that’s what happened. So, I’m not going to fall into the same trap and trap.”
Still, when he spoke on Ring’s YouTube channel on Thursday he hinted at future plans for 2026.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’ll focus on this big Russian guy, then Anthony Joshua and maybe the third fight (with Oleksandr Usyk),” Fury said.
‘Bored with normal life’
Fury retired at the end of 2024 after suffering a second consecutive defeat to world champion Usyk and went without a fight for a year before unveiling his latest comeback on January 4.
“People always question retirement for me,” said Fury, who reiterated on Thursday that the inspiration for this comeback was the death of Joshua’s friends because “you have to live every day as if it’s your last”.
He further added, “I have retired five times before and did so whole-heartedly. I have come back successfully four times and we will see if it happens five more times.”
“When I retire, make no mistake, I have no intention of coming back but I do miss the game. However, after a few months I get bored of normal life. Dropping the kids to school, walking the dogs, things like that. I miss everything that comes with big fights.”
John Fury, Tyson’s father and long-time acquaintance of his son during his rise through the boxing ranks, said last month that a trio of grueling fights against Deontay Wilder meant the ‘Gypsy King’ is “past his best”.
John Fury said, “Tyson has been gone since the Deonta Wilder fight, he finished him off… Makhmudov is a problem for Tyson.”
But Tyson said Thursday: “I’ve never lost my quickness of reactions. I’ve still got it. 100 percent.”
Makhmudov says wrestling a bear once was ‘enough’
Meanwhile, the Russian-born fighter ignored suggestions that Fury, “a great boxer”, would be hampered by his recent lack of competitive ring time.
“It’s not a problem for him because of his experience,” said Makhmudov, who briefly held Fury in a playful bear hug.
“Maybe it’s the opposite because he can recover from tough bouts in the past.”
Makhmudov has caused some stir ahead of the fight by posting a video showing him wrestling a 2.9 m (9 ft 8 in), 419 kg bear in the woods outside Moscow nearly two years ago – an encounter he says taught him to face fear.
“It was terrible. Not just scary, but really extremely terrible,” Makhmudov told the Press Association this week.
“Ever since I was a kid, I loved a challenge, that’s why I did it to test myself how I would feel in that strange situation.
“You only understand its power when you’re close to it. In a second you can become like flesh, just like flesh, just like that.”
“It can’t be compared to human stuff. It’s like a natural disaster, I can’t explain it, it’s crazy.”
“It’s good preparation for boxing because you have to control your emotions and your fears. You have to defeat your fears, defeat your phobias. It was good for that, but one time is enough!”
