Tyson Fury Returns to ‘Make Boxing Great Again’ [Video]

Tyson Fury has announced he is coming out of retirement to “make boxing great again” and insisted the sport has not been the same in his absence.

Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) will fight Arslanbek Makhmudov (21-2, 19 KOs) on April 11 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. The fight will be promoted by Ring Magazine and streamed live on Netflix.

The 37-year-old’s last fight was December 2024 and was his second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.

Fury Emerges From Retirement

In a news conference on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, Fury said, “I came back for one reason only: To make boxing great again. Since I stopped boxing a year ago, boxing for me has gone on a downward slope. It’s become quite boring. Boxing is at his maximum potential when Tyson Fury’s actively fighting. I didn’t say that, AI, Chat GPT [did]. So believe it.”

He continued, “With me, I brought the biggest streaming platform on earth, Netflix. First fight back, fighting at a 60,000-seat stadium. I bring a circus, entertainment, action, cameras, everything to the sport. I was enjoying being retired. Made ‘At Home with the Fury’s’ Season 2, made a documentary, traveled the world with my family, a few private jets, yachts … I was enjoying myself. But it comes to a point where you just want to go back to work. My work will always be the fight game, no matter how old I am.”

Fury wants to join Evander Holyfield, Muhammad Ali, and Lennox Lewis as three-time heavyweight world champion. “To walk away with so much left in the tank … I was always going to come back. Even if I didn’t believe it myself, when I retired over a year ago, I really believed I would never return to boxing. But having had a year off, and experience the life, I’ve learned that I’m so much in love with boxing, that it’s a part of me.”

“I’m looking to put on a show. I want an explosive knockout and I believe I’m going to get that, April 11, I’m going to knock him spark out,” Fury stated.

Fury Family Response

In an interview, Fury said his decision to return to boxing was not well received by his family and he has been “cut off” from his entire family, including his wife, brothers, and father.

Fury said, “Nobody wanted me to return and they made it clear … but, it’s my decision and my life.” The boxer admitted his decision was “selfish” but insists he is happiest entertaining people in the ring and does not plan to stop anytime soon.

The boxer married his wife, Paris in 2008 and they have seven children together, but as part of his fight preparation, he cuts himself off from his family, often for three months at a time.

He stated his wife is his “biggest mentor” in his career. “To get a woman who’s been with you all that time and gone through the bulls-t. The good times and the bad times … [For her] to still be there when you don’t want to be and when you’re being forced away and you’re being pushed out, that takes a very strong individual. My biggest mentor in my career is probably my wife. Because without her, I would have probably went AWOL a long time ago. I’ve been AWOL anyway plenty of times but I’ve always had that loving wife relationship, sort of the backbone,” Fury said in a 2022 interview with The Overlap.

Written by Jeanette Vietti

Sources:

ESPN: Tyson Fury coming back to ‘make boxing great again’
Yahoo Sports: Tyson Fury’s Family ‘Cut Off’ Contact After His Retirement Decision
New York Post: Tyson Fury’s wife, family ‘cut off’ contact after he ended boxing retirement

Featured Image Courtesy of Serglo Bertollni’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License