Tyson Fury has suggested he will retire after retaining his WBC heavyweight title and unbeaten record with a devastating sixth-round knockout of Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium.
Fury, who has now won 32 and drawn one of his 33 fights, floored Whyte with a superb right uppercut in front of 94,000 fans in the capital.
The 33-year-old then said “I think that’s it” when asked in the ring if he would fight again.
fury said BT Sports“I promised my lovely wife Paris that after the third fight with Deontay Wilder that would be it and I meant it.
“I was then offered to fight at Wembley and I thought I owe it to the fans, to every single person in the UK, to come here and fight.
“Now that it’s all done, I have to be a man of my word. I think that’s it, this could be the final curtain for The Gypsy King and what a way out!”
Fury promoter Frank Warren said BT Sports: “If it was to be the last fight, it will be the last fight. It is his decision, it is him who enters the ring. If it is his last fight, he came out so high.”
Fury took out challenger Whyte before flattening him out, referee Mark Lyson calling off the fight with a second left in round six.
However, the champion showed respect to Whyte afterwards, saying he believed the Brixton-based boxer would one day be world champion.
He added: “Dillian Whyte is a warrior and I believe he will be world champion, but tonight he met a great in the sport, one of the greatest heavyweights of all time.
“There’s no shame. He’s a badass. He’s as strong as a bull and has the heart of a lion.
“But he wasn’t playing with a mediocre heavyweight. He was playing with the best man on the planet.”
On the punch that knocked out Whyte, Fury added: “Lennox Lewis would have been proud of that.”
Nelson: Fury won’t retire…that’s talking
Although Fury said it could be the “last curtain”, Sky Sports Boxing’s Johnny Nelson believes more chapters will be written in his career.
“I think Tyson Fury has no intention of retiring, those are discussions,” Nelson said. “His life is boxing, that’s what he does…he’s not going to retire. Even his wife said there was no way he was going to retire.
“He will continue to fight; the fights that are there for him are Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk and these fights can take place if there is enough money on the table.
“Let’s see how Joshua is doing with Usyk and if he loses a fight between him and Fury can still happen.
“The possibilities are always there, but you have to remember who is side A and side B. Like it or not, Tyson Fury is at the top of the tree”