{"id":676139,"date":"2026-01-05T20:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676139\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T20:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T20:15:10","slug":"tyson-fury-heavyweight-boxing-return-talk-premature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/676139\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyson Fury: Heavyweight boxing return talk ‘premature’"},"content":{"rendered":"

No deal has yet been agreed for Tyson Fury’s return to boxing in 2026, BBC Sport understands.<\/b><\/p>\n

The former heavyweight world champion announced on Sunday<\/a> that he intends to be back in action this year, bringing an end to his latest spell of retirement.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old Briton last fought in December 2024,<\/a> when he was beaten for a second time by unified champion Oleksandr Usyk in their heavyweight rematch. <\/p>\n

Fury confirmed his retirement<\/a> a month later.<\/p>\n

Posting on Instagram on Sunday, Fury said: “2026 is that year. Been away for a while but I’m back now.”<\/p>\n

However, sources close to the Morecambe fighter have told BBC Sport that the Instagram post was premature, with key details around his comeback – including his opponent and timetable – still to be finalised.<\/p>\n

Any comeback – and a potential fight with Anthony Joshua – may also depend heavily on financial backing and the continued involvement of Saudi Arabia in staging major heavyweight events.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia powerbroker Turki Alalshikh had previously been linked with plans for Fury and long-time rival Joshua to take separate bouts early in 2026 before finally meeting later in the year.<\/p>\n

Joshua’s immediate future remains unclear<\/a> after he was injured in a car crash in Nigeria that claimed the lives of two close friends. <\/p>\n

Even if he does return to the ring, significant obstacles remain to finalising any bout with Fury.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia, through the Riyadh Season banner, has become a major force in boxing in recent years, with both Fury and Joshua having fought on cards backed by the Kingdom. <\/p>\n

British rivals Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn also signed directly with Riyadh Season for their two most recent bouts rather than with individual promoters.<\/p>\n

But the scale of Saudi involvement in future events is now less clear and, without that financial backing, a Fury\u2013Joshua showdown remains difficult to make. <\/p>\n

Despite years of discussion, no other promotional group has yet been able to broker an agreement between the pair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No deal has yet been agreed for Tyson Fury’s return to boxing in 2026, BBC Sport understands. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-676139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115844331826124384","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}