Tyson Fury is not convinced Deontay Wilder has enough left in the tank to return to boxing.
The former WBC heavyweight champion has not fought since his defeat to Fury last October, knocked out in the eleventh round of their epic trilogy contest.
After a lengthy spell out of the public eye, Wilder confirmed last month that he will return to the sport, insisting: ‘I must continue my journey’.
While sending out a number of mixed messages this week, Fury has insisted he is now retired from professional boxing, a decision he announced following his stunning knockout win over Dillian Whyte in April.
In the aftermath of that win, ‘The Gypsy King’ named Wilder ‘the second-best heavyweight in the division’, urging the American to take his place and fight the winner of Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua in an undisputed title showdown later down the line.
However, Fury is no longer convinced his old foe has enough left to compete at the top level and has urged him to consider hanging up his gloves, insisting Wilder is ‘absolutely destroyed mentally, physically and emotionally.’
‘He is a very dangerous fighter and I think he will knock anybody out if he hits them in the face,” Fury told Queensberry Promotions.
‘And in 12 rounds of course he will hit you in the face. But I don’t know what is left in his tank. You don’t have a trilogy with the best fighter on the planet and come out of the other side to tell a great story and win world titles.
‘He has been absolutely destroyed mentally, physically and emotionally, and I would say he is a wreck at the moment. He has had a cracked jaw, a cracked skull, been knocked out cold twice and it is a tough comeback for him.
‘It all depends on what he has got left but I wouldn’t like to see him carry on because I know he doesn’t need the money.
‘I’d like to see him retire because I’m not sure whether he wins a few more fights or goes in there and is totally shot and breaks up his legacy.
‘At the moment, he has lost to the best fighter of a generation but there is no shame in that. But if he comes back and starts getting wiped the floor with because he is shot to bits, that would be disgraceful.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
