The father of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 33-0-1 (24) has warned that a fourth fight with Deontay Wilder 43-2-1 (42) would only end with a death in the ring.
Fury Jr has long been in negotiations with WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk 20-0 (13) for a four-belt unification bout on April 29, but with doubts that fight will come to fruition, Fury has reportedly sought out Wilder as a substitute if the Usyk fight falls over at the last hurdle.
It is not a fight that John Fury wants to see.
“I’m worried about him fighting Wilder because I’m afraid of him killing Wilder,” Fury Sr said to The Mirror.
“Wilder’s got a cracked skull, his skull is cracked like an egg. That kind of thing can’t be repaired so if Tyson hits him again he could kill him.
“So I’ve said ‘unless you want a funeral on your hands and the death of Deontay Wilder keep from him’.”
Fury returned from a two-and-a-half year layoff to box Wilder to a split draw in their first bout in December 2018. In their rematch 15 months later, Fury destroyed Wilder in seven rounds after dropping him twice. Fury stopped Wilder in 11 frames in their trilogy bout in October 2021.
Fury Sr doesn’t see the appeal of a fourth bout between them.
“He’s beat him three times, massacred him each time. He beat him when he’d just lost eight-stone and been out of the ring for three years,” he said.
“He poses no threat, the only danger he poses is Tyson killing him. That danger and smoke, we don’t want, let him go faff about with these blokes he can hit once and they’ll lay on the floor and carry on, he’s no good to Tyson. I don’t want to go to my grave knowing that my son’s killed somebody.”
Fury Sr believes Wilder is damaged goods and would like to see the American retire.
“I don’t even think Wilder should be boxing anymore,” he said.
“Look at [the third fight], every time Tyson caught him up the side of the head it was all over, he’s a pressure cooker ready to explode, him. He’ll get hit the wrong way and he won’t come to, Wilder. If I was Deontay Wilder I would seriously consider retiring with my health intact.
“He’s made millions of dollars, why risk it? The Gypsy King will kill him stone dead, and I don’t want that. I want the best man to win, go home healthy to their family and do what’s right.
“It’s a sport at the end of the day. Even though I love it, we train to knock people out but knocking out and permanent injuries? That’s another matter.
“I wish that on no athlete. I’ve got kids and grandkids, I love them all and what I wouldn’t like to happen to mine; I definitely wouldn’t want it to happen to other people.”
