Tyson Fury wants Deontay Wilder to hang up his gloves. The former heavyweight champ believes Wilder's recent performances show he's not the fighter he once was.
Fury, known as "The Gypsy King," is taking a break from boxing right now. He's had quite a career, becoming world champion by beating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. After that, he stepped away from the sport due to mental health and addiction issues. But he came back strong in 2019, fought a trilogy with Wilder, and grabbed the WBC belt. He retired earlier this year, but many think he'll be back in the ring soon.
Wilder, now 39, has had a tough time lately. He beat Robert Helenius but then lost to Joseph Parker on points and got knocked out by Zhilei Zhang. He's been out of the ring for a year and plans to fight Tyrrell Herndon in Kansas this June.
Fury and Wilder's trilogy was brutal. Their first fight ended in a draw, with Fury getting knocked down in the last round. Fury won the next two fights, putting Wilder down several times. All in all, there were 10 knockdowns across their three fights.
In a recent interview, Fury said:
"Being truthful I'd like to see poor old Deontay retire from boxing. 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 added:
"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."
But Wilder's not done yet. He's set to fight Tyrrell Herndon in June. If he wins big, he might get back in the mix for top fights, maybe even against Anthony Joshua. And speaking of Joshua, he's trying to set up a fight with Fury right now.
So, while Fury thinks Wilder should call it quits, the boxing world's still spinning. We'll have to wait and see what happens next.
