Oleksandr Usyk believes Tyson Fury will come out of retirement to fight him after after beating Anthony Joshua to retain his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles.
The undefeated Ukrainian (20-0, 13 KOs) edged another thrilling contest at the King Abdullah Sports Centre Arena in Jeddah via a split decision, although many fans and pundits felt it was more clear-cut than the judges scorecards of 113-115, 115-113, 116-112 suggested.
Looking towards his next fight and a possible contest for the WBC belt, Usyk said via a translator: “I am sure that Tyson Fury is not retired yet. I am convinced he wants to fight me.
“I want to fight him and if I am not fighting Tyson Fury, I am not fighting at all.
“Only God knows whether I will fight him or not, but all these gentlemen here around me, my team, they are going to help me.”
On the contest with Joshua, Usyk said: “This is already history.
“Many generations are going to watch this fight, especially the round where someone tried to beat me hard, but I withstood it and turned in a different way. Thanks to God.”
Usyk also dedicated his victory to Ukraine, saying: “I want to thank everyone who prayed for me and thank God for the help he gave me today.
“I devote this victory to my country, to my family, to my team, to all the military people who are defending the country. Thank you very much.”
Earlier this month, Fury chose his 34th birthday to announce his latest retirement from boxing having previously performed a number of U-turns over his future in the sport.
This came days after Fury insisted his most recent spell in retirement was over in order to set up a trilogy fight against Derek Chisora and he even claimed to have appointed Isaac Lowe as his trainer.
Fury has since reacted to Usyk's victory over Joshua with an expletive-ridden social media post, branding it one of the worst heavyweight title fights he had ever seen.
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