Tyson Fury wants Deontay Wilder to hang up his gloves. The retired heavyweight champion expressed concern for his former rival's health and performance in a recent interview.
Fury's career has been a rollercoaster ride. He won his first world title in 2015, beating Wladimir Klitschko on points in Germany. After that, he stepped away from boxing for two years to deal with mental health issues and addiction.
When Fury came back in 2018, he faced Deontay Wilder in a trilogy that defined both their careers. Their first fight ended in a draw, with Fury famously getting up from a knockdown in the final round. Fury won the next two fights by knockout.
The Gypsy King went on to beat Derek Chisora and Francis Ngannou before losing twice to Oleksandr Usyk in his bid to become undisputed champion. He called it quits in January 2024.
Now, Fury thinks Wilder should do the same. On the "Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru & Henry" podcast, he said:
"Since that trilogy we had, we took a lot of years out of each other's lives. That war we had which ended in the 11th round by knockout, that takes a lot out of your tank and you don't recover from fights like that. Between mine and Wilder's trilogy, there was 10 knockdowns."
Fury believes their brutal battles have taken a toll on Wilder's performance:
"It takes a lot out of a fighter and even when he's come back and had a couple of fights since against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, he's only a shadow of his former glory. The only thing that's the same about Deontay is his name. I'd like to see him retire for sure before he does damage to himself."
Wilder has struggled lately, losing to Joseph Parker on points and getting knocked out by Zhilei Zhang. He hasn't fought in a year but plans to return to the ring in June against relative unknown Tyrrell Herndon. If Wilder wins, he might get another big fight, possibly against Anthony Joshua.
Meanwhile, Joshua hopes Fury will come out of retirement for an all-British showdown. But for now, the Gypsy King seems content to watch from the sidelines and offer advice to his old rivals.
