For his return after a retirement, Tyson Fury defeated Arslanbek Makhmudov on points and then challenged his longtime rival Anthony Joshua.
At 37 years old, Tyson Fury came out of retirement for the fifth time to fight Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in front of 60,000 spectators. The boxing veteran emerged victorious! It was a points win, over fifteen months since his last fight and a loss to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia where he failed to reclaim his WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, IBO, and The Ring titles. After twelve rounds, Tyson Fury won by unanimous decision from the judges: 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109. Though he wasn’t able to secure a knockout, Fury was clearly dominant and now holds a record of 25 wins, one draw, and two losses.
Joshua was ringside
Following his victory, Tyson turned to Anthony Joshua (29 wins, 4 losses), his compatriot a year his junior, former IBF, WBA, IBO, and WBO world champion, who was seated ringside. “I challenge you, Anthony Joshua, to face me next. Do you accept?” Fury shouted. Joshua, still recovering from a car accident in December where he lost his coach and trainer, took a moment to respond before grabbing the mic from Netflix, which was broadcasting the fight: “I knocked you out when we were kids and I will do it again. You’re not going to tell me what to do, I’ve been chasing you for 10 years. I’m the boss, you work for me.“
A fight “soon”
He then showed more cooperation: “I’ve shared this table with him many times,” Joshua stated on Netflix. “Deep down, I wouldn’t mind facing Fury tomorrow, especially after seeing this. There is no problem fighting him. I’m not here to make a scene. I’m here to fight. The contract will be sent, we’ll sort out the details, and you’ll probably see us in the ring soon, very likely.” The long-awaited fight by the English public (and beyond) seems highly likely to happen!
