Tyson Fury isn’t breaking retirement just for a standalone event against Arslanbek Makhmudov on Apr. 11 in London, as promoter Frank Warren is eyeing two prospective fights for the brobdingnagian British boxer-puncher — and both are outside his career-long rivalry with Anthony Joshua.
Fury’s associate Spencer Brown, the CEO of Goldstar Promotions, said neither Fury or the wider team were looking past Makhmudov, who has 13 first-round knockout wins, and 19 knockouts in total, from 21 victories, including one scored from decisioning Dave Allen late, last year.
Regardless, Warren is considering Fury’s future. And the bouts he detailed show he still sees the 37-year-old as fully capable of competing at the highest echelons of the division.
“I’d like to see him in with [Oleksandr] Usyk again,” Warren told reporters Monday at a media event.
Fury went back-and-forth with Usyk over two fights, losing the first by split decision and the second by unanimous decision — both at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“I would love to see that fight again. They were great fights to watch.”
But there is also a possibly in-house fight to make involving another Queensberry Promotions boxer, as Warren suggested the winner of the upcoming WBO heavyweight championship bout on May 9 between the title-holder Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois would be an ideal opponent for Fury, in the near future.
“I’d also like to see him fight the winner of the two guys of Fabio and Daniel.”
“They’re all exciting fights,” Warren said. “Heavyweight boxing is so good and now it is alive.”
And that is without even mentioning the most obvious fight to book — one against Joshua, should the Matchroom boxer return following a tragic car accident that claimed the lives of two of his close friends, and which his long-time promoter Eddie Hearn recently said led to nothing guaranteed regarding the fighter’s future.
Joshua was previously linked with a February fight against the kickboxing icon Rico Verhoeven but that crossover bout now appears to possibly head, instead, to Usyk, with the sport’s financier Turki Alalshikh recently proclaiming on social media that the Dutch striker would present a quality opponent for the pound-for-pound sensation.
If and when AJ does fight again, it likely wouldn’t be against a fighter like Fury but, instead, a tune-up like Verhoeven would have been, before a more reasonable spectacle.
Before all then, it is Fury and Makhmudov who will dominate the headlines. “In April, we’re going to see a fantastic performance,” Warren said. “And after that, the world is his lobster.”