DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK
F or many boxing fans, the final bell had already tolled on Tyson Fury’s career. After consecutive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, his January 2025 retirement was met with scant fanfare; the appetite for a third fight with Usyk was nonexistent outside Fury’s imagination. The epic run seemed logically and definitively over for “The Gypsy King.” But now, as whispers of high-profile clashes with his domestic rivals grow ever louder, Fury is poised to join a unique club: the former champion returning not just from a loss, but from back-to-back defeats to the same man. Such circumstances are difficult to bounce back from, and only the best can endure these double disasters and add to their legacy. It’s not that Fury looked awful against Usyk. His legendary toughness was still on display, as was his boxing acumen. Fury did as well as a boxer can do while losing. Yet there was something missing from him in those two losses. Though Fury boxed well in the early going, the Ukrainian dominated the late rounds in both fights. When Fury needed to rally in the final rounds, he was like a tired, old circus bear. Fury apparently wants another moment in the spotlight, even as his critics shout that Usyk revealed his limitations. Yet
TYSON FURY HOPES TO CONTINUE THE LONG TRADITION OF VETERAN CHAMPS RESUMING THEIR CAREERS AFTER BACK-TO-BACK LOSSES TO THE SAME NEMESIS by Don Stradley
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