Tyson Fury is poised for his latest comeback and the former heavyweight champion has been very clear on why he is returning to the ring.
The 37-year-old Fury, who faces Russia's fringe contender Arslanbek Makhmudov in London this Saturday, walked away from boxing after a pair of defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, the second of which came in Riyadh in December 2024.
Despite his protestations, Fury was second best in both, especially the rematch, but few believed he had hung up his gloves for good.
That's because the lure of a money-spinning bout against perennial rival Anthony Joshua lingers on, and it seems neither British fighter is willing to leave so much cash on the table.
That bout is far from certain – nothing ever is in heavyweight boxing – but at least Fury is candid about his desire to finally make it happen.
“I just want to get as many big fights as I can at this stage of my career. I’ve won every belt there is, I’ve completed the game of boxing,” Fury told The Ring on Monday.
“It’s not really about a belt any more, it’s just that I want to make that Anthony Joshua fight that was supposed to have happened for the last 10 years but hasn’t.
“Obviously I have this big fight in front of me in Makhmudov first and then we don’t know what the third fight might be after Joshua but I’m aiming for three fights this year.
“If it’s a good fight with me and AJ, which I don’t think it will be, I think it will be a blow-away, then we will have a rematch. But if not, we will see.”
Will Fury vs Joshua finally happen?
As Fury said, the two rivals have been circling one another for most of their careers, and with both now past their best, it's criminal they never met in their prime.
But with Fury and Joshua out of the heavyweight title picture and inactive, it remains the only box to tick for both men and easily the biggest money fight out there.
As with all events of such scale, the key player will be Saudi Arabia's power broker Turki Alalshikh. Described by Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn as “the only man who is going to make that fight”, Alalshikh has previously spoken of his desire to put a deal together in 2026.
“There is the big fight, one of the greatest fights in the history of boxing, in London, maybe in September. We will have a surprise for the fans,” Alalshikh said of a potential Fury-Joshua showdown.
Money has always been a stumbling block given the astronomical purses both will expect, but with Alalshikh on board, the financial might of streaming powerhouse Netflix, and time running out for the fighters, it is now or never.
The first step will come on Saturday and the potential riches on offer for a Joshua bout should provide ample incentive when Fury touches gloves with Makhmudov.
Aside from a gimmick bout against Jake Paul, Joshua hasn't boxed since a devastating KO loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024. He also saw his life turned upside down last December by a deadly car crash in Nigeria, which claimed the lives of two of his closest friends.
He has, however, started training alongside Usyk and was an animated ringside spectator for Deontay Wilder's win over Derek Chisora last weekend. His own comeback has been pencilled in for July.
For Fury-Joshua to happen, both will need to return to the ring and win warm-up bouts. For the clamour to really start, they'll both need to look good doing so - that might yet prove the biggest impediment to the British heavyweight super fight coming to fruition.
How much of a threat is Makhmudov?
To look at, Makhmudov is a terrifying specimen. Grizzled and menacing, the 36-year-old Russian stands 6ft 6ins (1.97m) and weighs more than 18 stone (118kg).
Back in 2023, he was 18-0 and moving towards title contention, but a pair of defeats exposed his limitations. A loss to Agit Kabayel – now the WBC's No 1 contender to Usyk – was no disgrace, but a subsequent eighth-round collapse against Guido Vianello was far more alarming.
In both, it was shown that while Makhmudov is a strong puncher, he is slow, robotic, doesn't respond well to pressure and has dubious stamina.
He has since chalked up two low-level wins, the most recent being over Dave Allen in the UK, but he has been hand-picked to make Fury look good.
If Fury has retained a measure of the skill, engine and agility that took him to the top then he should comfortably outpoint or stop Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, given his time away and propensity to blow hot and cold, there are certainly question marks over just how much he has left in the tank.
Will inactivity be a problem for Fury?
It certainly has been in the past, and Saturday night's bout will be illuminating as to just what his final chapter will look like.
Lose and it ends there and then. Win unconvincingly and he can press ahead, but it will certainly dampen expectations. But win, and win well, and the Joshua hype will flow and perhaps even talk of another crack at Usyk.
A long camp in Thailand has seen Fury shed weight and he has returned clean shaven, tanned and looking the part on social media. What he delivers on fight night after a 16-month layoff is another matter.
Fury's career has been punctuated by long gaps and inactivity has never been his friend.
He peaked the night he stopped Wilder in their 2020 rematch in what was his third fight in just eight months. Conversely, he never looked worse than in a humiliating split decision win over MMA fighter Francis Ngannou after a full year of inactivity.
At 37, Fury is not old for a heavyweight, but he has packed a lot into those years and looked jaded in the second fight with Usyk.
On Saturday, everything is set up for him: Home advantage, a hand-picked opponent and a huge global platform on Netflix. Now it's time to deliver. Lose, and he might as well retire for real.
