Tyson Fury has announced that he will be ending his latest retirement from boxing in 2026.
The two-time world heavyweight champion took to social media to confirm that he would be returning to the ring in the months ahead, having already dropped several clear hints over another comeback.
“2026 is that year. Return of the mac,” Fury wrote on Instagram on Sunday, alongside more videos of him training in Thailand.
“Been away for a while but I'm back now, 37 years old and still punching. Nothing better to do than punch men in the face and get paid for it.”
Fury has not fought since suffering his second successive points defeat by Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh in December 2024, lamenting what he felt was an unfair result and announcing his retirement three weeks later.
“Hi everybody, I'm going to make this short and sweet," Fury said.
“I'd like to announce my retirement from boxing, it has been a blast, I've loved every single minute of it and I'm going to end with this; Dick Turpin wore a mask.”
Fury’s second defeat by Usyk saw him miss out on the WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, IBO and The Ring titles, having lost his WBC belt as Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight champion of boxing’s four-belt era with an initial split-decision win in Riyadh in May 2024.
Usyk then vacated his IBF title, which he won back from Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium last summer, becoming undisputed champion again before later relinquishing the WBO belt now held by Britain’s Fabio Wardley.
Fury was widely expected to come out of retirement and finally take part in a long-awaited and lucrative all-British showdown with arch-rival Anthony Joshua in August or September - potentially in London - as part of the headline act of Riyadh Season, with an initial warm-up fight to come in Saudi Arabia earlier in the year.
However, Joshua’s boxing future has been left uncertain after he suffered minor injuries in a car accident in Nigeria last week that claimed the lives of two of his close friends and long-time team members in Latif 'Latz' Ayodele and Sina Ghami.
“This is so sad,” Fury wrote on Instagram after the crash. “May God give them a good bed in heaven.”
It is unclear who Fury will fight next, with Usyk in the process of negotiating a high-profile bout with former long-reigning WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
