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Exclusive: Tyson Fury Fresh From His World Heavyweight Win Against Deontay Wilder

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Tyson Fury sat down with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby and put a number on how much boxing he’s got left in him.

Ten days after stopping Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas, the WBC heavyweight champion walked into the ITV studio for an exclusive sit-down on This Morning. Fury, 31, used the appearance not just to relive the seventh-round finish but to lay out an actual exit plan — two fights, then done. It’s a rare thing in boxing: a champion at the peak of his powers publicly setting his own finish line.

• Fury confirmed he intends to retire after exactly two more fights, a decision he said was pushed along by his wife Paris asking him to step away from the sport.
• The first of those two fights is a trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder, tentatively slated for July 2020 after Wilder triggered his contractual rematch clause in late February.
• Fury wants his final fight to be a unification clash with Anthony Joshua, calling the belts Joshua holds his own “leftovers” from before his hiatus.

The Two-Fight Exit Plan

Fury was blunt about the math. Sitting across from Schofield and Willoughby, he framed his remaining career in the simplest terms possible — two fights, and that’s it. It’s a startling declaration from a man who, at 30-0-1, is arguably playing the best boxing of his 12-year professional career, but Fury made clear he’s not interested in chasing the record book.

I’ve got two more fights left and then we’ll really think about what we’re doing.

He was equally direct about where the push came from. Paris Fury, he said, has been asking him to retire, and the timeline he laid out on the couch reads as much like a family compromise as a fighter’s retirement plan.

Wilder III Takes Shape

The first item on that two-fight countdown is already on the calendar. Wilder officially exercised his rematch clause in late February, and Fury confirmed on-air that the trilogy fight is tentatively pointed at July 2020. It’s the natural follow-up to a rivalry that’s already produced a controversial draw and a shocking stoppage — a full breakdown of the buildup to that fight is available in the kick-off press conference and face-off coverage once promotion for the trilogy gets underway.

Joshua and the “Leftovers” Line

Fury didn’t hold back when Schofield and Willoughby brought up Anthony Joshua. He wants the second — and final — fight of his career to be a unification bout against the IBF, WBA and WBO titleholder, and he made his case for it in typically pointed fashion, calling Joshua’s belts his own “leftovers” from the titles he vacated during his two-and-a-half-year absence from the sport. Fury’s argument is simple: he was never beaten in the ring, so as far as he’s concerned he’s still the lineal champion, and Joshua is simply holding property that belongs to him.

The Comeback Behind the Comeback

The most striking stretch of the interview had nothing to do with contracts or rematch clauses. Fury walked the hosts through the depths of his decline — ballooning to 28 stone and battling suicidal thoughts during his time out of the sport — before detailing how he rebuilt himself into a 30-0-1 world champion. He was candid that a large part of the fuel for his comeback was simply proving people wrong, a motivation that’s carried him from that low point to a seventh-round stoppage of Wilder in February.

Fury’s two-fight window is now the story heading into the summer: Wilder in a trilogy fight tentatively booked for July, then, if it comes together, Joshua for every heavyweight belt in the division. Whether Fury actually walks away after that second fight is a question for 2020 and beyond — for now, the Gypsy King has given boxing an actual deadline to work against.