Tyson Fury: I was happily retired, but there’s nothing like a UK stadium fight | 'Makhmudov's in trouble!'
Tyson Fury insists he had "zero intentions" of making a comeback, but a family holiday led to a training camp, which led to a stadium fight; "There's nothing like a UK football stadium to get you going," Fury said; He fights Arslanbek Makhmudov on April 11 in Tottenham
Saturday 21 March 2026 23:17, UK
Tyson Fury keeps trying to quit boxing. Yet, of course, just when he’s out, it pulls him back in.
Fury insists he never meant to come back to boxing. Yet nevertheless on April 11 his brief retirement will come to an end when he fights Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
At the start of 2025, still smarting after his two losses to Oleksandr Usyk, Fury announced he was finished with the sport.
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It's by no means the first time Fury has retired and then reversed course, but he is adamant it was not pre-planned.
He was travelling in Thailand at the end of last year, he stepped up his training and events took on their own momentum. He's still in Thailand, only now deep in camp for a fight that's three weeks away.
This return, he maintains, wasn't inevitable. It was on impulse.
"It's good to be back," Fury told Sky Sports. "I only came to Thailand for a Christmas holiday with my family. I was still retired when I came here. I had no intentions of making a comeback. The sunshine brought me back.
"I was feeling so good I thought I'm just going to go into camp over here, train over here and get a fight. And that's exactly what I did. I had zero intentions of making a comeback when I came here in December, none, I was happily retired," he continued.
"And then the sunshine, a bit of training and one thing led to another and next thing I've signed a massive contract.
"The next thing it's at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the world's going to watch it."
The allure of returning to the ring in front of a raucous crowd is a hard to shake, even for a former two-time heavyweight world champion.
"You can't beat it, can you? It's been four years since I was last at Tottenham, when I was last in the UK doing a fight, four years. I'm looking forward to getting back there and soaking up some of that atmosphere," Fury said.
"There's nothing like a UK football stadium to get you going."
Makhmudov is a solid opponent, especially for a comeback fight. But Fury promises to be inspired on the night.
"All I can say is Makmudov's in some serious bother," Fury said. "He's in trouble. Makhmudov's in trouble. He's a tough man, he's had a couple of losses like myself, and he's had a lot of knockouts, 20 odd knockouts.
"We're similar age, similar size, similar weight, similar record. I was world champion, he was No 2 in the rankings when I was WBC champion. He was one of the fights I got offered actually. So now we're actually doing it so here we go.
"Let's throw down. May the best man win."
