‘There’s no hurry’ for Tyson Fury to confirm future plans, says WBC chief Mauricio Sulaiman

WBC president Mauricioo Sulaiman has insisted that the governing body will not ‘hurry’ Tyson Fury to confirm his plans for the future.

Fury knocked out Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium in April to retain the WBC heavyweight title and remain unbeaten, and the “Gypsy King” said before and after the fight that he expected it to be his last.

If Fury, 33, is to confirm his retirement, he will be forced to relinquish the belt – or the WBC will strip him of the gold.

However, Sulaiman has said the WBC will not put pressure the Briton for an answer any time soon.

“Tyson Fury confirmed how great he is inside the ring, and outside the ring he is also a hero,” Sulaiman told Planet Sport.

“We’re going to give him the time he needs to reflect, to relax. He just did the mandatory of the division. There’s no hurry to pressure him or his team into making any decisions. We will be in communications, he’s having holiday with his family.

“I’m not saying we will get him three months, [but] there’s no time limit right now. I’m respecting the level of Tyson Fury, his private time with his family, but we will talk in the near future certainly.

“We need to address the situation if he is retiring, but at this time we are just giving him the much deserved time to enjoy his holidays.”

Many fans wish to see Fury take on the winner of Anthony Joshua’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, with the pair expected to clash again this summer.

Usyk outpointed Joshua in London last September to take the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight belts, and the unbeaten Ukrainian is now set to defend them against the Briton.

If Fury decides to fight again, he could face the victor of that rematch in a contest to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion.

“We have been consistent in being flexible and proactive to promote the best fights the fans want to see,” Sulaiman said, “so we are open to support any request from any champion we have in the WBC.”

If Fury were to elect not to compete again, however, a fight for the vacant WBC title would need to be arranged.

“[Deontay] Wilder is the No 1 contender, and you have Joe Joyce at No 2, No 3 is Joseph Parker,” Sulaiman said.

“I believe [Joyce and Parker] are going to have a fight for the WBO interim championship. We’ve had no confirmation, but we will just wait and see what happens. There are some variables playing around there.”

Fury fought Wilder to a controversial split draw in 2018 before stopping the American in 2020 to claim the WBC title.

He then knocked out Wilder last October in the pair’s trilogy bout, retaining the belt in the process.