Boxing great Tyson Fury should hang up his gloves straight after a blockbuster finale fight with Anthony Joshua.
That is according to British boxing great Ricky Hatton now that the dust has settled on Fury v Usyk 2. The Gypsy King went all 12 rounds with the Ukrainian warrior but ultimately fell short on a contentious points decision. Fury was adamant he had won the fight but has yet to reveal whether or not a trilogy is on the cards.
Corners of the boxing world have also called for him to finally fight Anthony Joshua after a decade of build up or even retire given his incredible career. Good pal Hatton, however, thinks he can have it both ways. Speaking to Vegas Insider, he said: “Make the Anthony Joshua fight [happen]. In the heavyweight division, Daniel Dubois deserves a rematch against Oleksandr Usyk as he had hard lines last time, with controversy over the ending. Let the two lads who won fight each other and the two fighters who lost fight each other. We’ve been waiting to see Tyson Fury fight Anthony Joshua for 10 years now which is incredible.
“Tyson has had a great career; AJ has had a fantastic career, but both are showing signs of miles on the clock but it’s a fight we have always wanted to see. You would still pay all day long to watch the fight. Let them fight each other and then I would like to see them both retire then as they have nothing more to prove as a friend. If they have that last send-off fight as we’ve all been waiting to see, they can then hang the gloves up and have done us proud.”
Hatton believed Usyk “just did enough” to beat Fury again and that his boxing mate “is probably coming to an end now” and “has seen better days”. Hatton revealed that he has not spoken to Fury since the fight but thinks a homecoming against AJ is the perfect way to sing off. He added: “It should be in Britain. If you have a fight like that with two heavyweights at the top of the division from Great Britain, then I think it does need to be in the UK.
“There’s a lot of fights in Saudi and look at the job Turki Alalshikh has done for boxing with the big fights he has made but look at the atmosphere at Wembley for Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua. Not just the fight, the build-up, and the whole occasion, no disrespect to Saudi but this is where fights with two former heavyweight world champions from the UK should happen and there’s only one place and it’s in Britain.”
Asked on who would be favourite he couldn’t split them. He added: “It’s a tough one. I think it’s 50/50. I wouldn’t say either would be the favourite. AJ, the way he was in the corner even before he was knocked out, was a little bit casual, and I think he took Daniel Dubois lightly. He was that convinced before the fight, going into the fight, and even during the fight.”