But in the wake of Anthony Joshua's stunning Wembley win over Klitschko, Fury has returned to training and is intent on securing an all-British super-fight with the new champion. Fury's camp are confident they can avoid further sanction from UKAD, which banned him over a positive test for nandrolone in June 2016, only to suspend the sanction pending an appeal and further investigations.
But Fury must also convince the British Boxing Board of Control that he deserves to win back his boxing licence, which was stripped after he admitted he had taken a recreational drug, as well as subsequent mental health concerns. Fury's promoter, Frank Warren, told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme: "He has been having treatment and the view is that after nearly 18 months now he is mentally fit to resume training.
"The bottom line is we believe and hope the treatment has been successful and hopefully he gets his licence back because it is good for him to earn money as a boxer, but more importantly it is good for his health and well-being that he has something going for him in his life.
"Provided Tyson is OK he has said he would like to fight on July 8. There's no problem arranging that, but the most important thing is he's 100 per cent mentally well before he gets back in the ring."
If Fury does win his case with UKAD, the return of his licence will be no mere formality, with the BBBC expected to take some time to consider a number of factors before deciding whether to allow him to fight again.
Warren added that ideally Fury would have a number of warm-up bouts before facing Joshua, despite the former champion's claim he was so unimpressed with Joshua's win over Klitschko that he could fight and beat him without a warm-up.
Warren added: "I honestly do believe that it will not be long before he gets his belts back -- he's head and shoulders above all the other heavyweights in the world at the moment.
"You look at the performance of Anthony Joshua which was brave, heroic and very, very exciting -- but the difference in how they handled Klitschko was vast and Tyson was far superior."