Following Tyson Fury’s unanimous decision victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov, he now looks for his next challenge.
Makhmudov marked Fury’s first opponent since his back-to-back losses to Oleksandr Usyk.
‘The Gypsy King’ returned to the ring for the first time in 16 months and struggled to emulate his usual evasive style early on, before showing shades of the old Fury towards the latter stages of the contest.
Fury returned after his fifth retirement, and after the fight he made it clear he wants to get straight back to the top of the heavyweight division.
He is a two-time heavyweight world champion, winning his first title against Wladimir Klitschko back in 2015.
He returned in 2019 to challenge Deontay Wilder, drawing their first fight before beating the ‘Bronze Bomber’ twice.
Now the ‘Gypsy King’ looks for his next challenger, and here are three possible names.
Oleksandr Usyk
Since talking about returning to boxing, Fury has repeatedly discussed a trilogy fight with Usyk.
The pair fought twice in 2024, with ‘The Cat’ triumphing both times. He won a split decision in their first fight before picking up a unanimous decision victory over ‘The Gypsy King’ in December 2024.
Fury claims he was hard done by in both decisions, yet would still want to have a third roll of the dice.
The Ukrainian returns to the ring on May 23rd against kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven, as he defends his WBO, WBC & IBF titles.
Should he come through the Verhoeven test, a third fight with Fury may provide the most financial gain, so that could tempt Usyk.
Moses Itauma
Possibly the most unlikely of the three is 21-year-old Moses Itauma. The Brit has looked incredible since turning professional.
The rising heavyweight actually fought on Fury’s undercard back in 2024, when he knocked out Dempsey McKean in a round.
Fury and Itauma have sparred before, and the ‘Gypsy King’ has labelled him as the ‘real deal’.
Itauma was last in action a few weeks back, knocking Jermaine Franklin out in the fifth round of their contest.
He is the first man to stop ‘Assassin 989’, who took both Anthony Joshua & Dillian Whyte the distance a few years ago.
Itauma will now look at steering his name towards world titles and may be up for challenging the two-time world champion.
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Anthony Joshua
This is the fight the majority of boxing fans want next, with Fury and Joshua going back-and-forth for over a decade, yet a fight has always eluded the pair.
It now looks more likely than ever that we will see the two British icons face off this year, with Fury immediately calling ‘AJ’ out after the win.
Joshua refused to face off with ‘The Gypsy King’, likely because he is planning a return fight for himself rather than jumping immediately into a blockbuster fight with Fury.
Joshua was last in action in December, when he knocked out Jake Paul in the sixth round. Just days after the win, ‘AJ’ was involved in an accident in Nigeria that took the lives of two of his close friends.
Joshua’s return is still yet to be confirmed or announced, with him taking the necessary time before heading into a tough fight or training camp.
He has confirmed, however, he would like to finally settle his beef with Fury, but it appears a fight in between is very likely, with Deontay Wilder being a possible name for him.
Whether Fury will wait for his man is unknown, with him claiming he wants three fights this year.
The post Tyson Fury: who’s next after Makhmudov win? appeared first on ProBoxing-Fans.com.