Tyson Fury has said he is coming out of retirement to “make boxing great again” and insisted the sport hasn’t been the same during his time away.
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 hasn’t fought since December 2024 in his second-straight defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
After more than a year out of the ring, having announced his latest retirement in January 2025, Fury said his comeback will be for the betterment of the sport.
“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,” Fury told a news conference on Monday.
“Boxing is at his maximum potential when Tyson Fury’s actively fighting. I didn’t say that, AI, Chat GPT [did]. So believe it.
“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 Furys’ Season 2, made a documentary, travelled 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 also said he wants to become a three-time heavyweight world champion, joining Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis as the only male boxers to do so.
The “Gypsy King” was on top form at the news conference and said it was good to be back.
“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 said.
“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.”