Fury Breaks Silence: Joshua’s Nigeria Tragedy Made Me Return To The Ring
The death of two close friends of Anthony Joshua in a car crash in Nigeria last December was not merely a personal tragedy for the British heavyweight star it also, according to Tyson Fury, became the defining moment that convinced the self-styled Gypsy King to lace up his gloves once more.
Fury, the 37-year-old former two-time world heavyweight champion, announced on January 4, 2026, that he would return to professional boxing after a 15-month absence, with a scheduled bout against Russian-born heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov set for April 11 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Speaking publicly on Monday, Fury was unusually candid about the emotional catalyst behind his decision.
“Tomorrow might not ever come and I suppose the biggest turning point in this comeback for me was the tragedy that happened with Anthony Joshua,” Fury said. “You should never put things off until tomorrow, or next year, or next week because tomorrow is not promised to nobody.”
The announcement of his return came just one week after Joshua, Fury’s long-discussed rival and fellow British heavyweight, was involved in a car crash in Nigeria in late December 2025. Two of Joshua’s close friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele, lost their lives in the accident, a tragedy that sent shockwaves through the boxing world and beyond. Joshua had previously honoured the two men with tattoos, a tribute widely reported in the days following the crash.
Fury’s latest comeback marks yet another chapter in what has become one of boxing’s most unpredictable career narratives. He last fought in October 2024, suffering his second consecutive defeat to Ukrainian unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch that ended his claim to undisputed world championship status. The loss, which followed an earlier points defeat to Usyk earlier that year, led Fury to announce retirement — the fifth time in his career he has made such a declaration.
The 2024 losses to Usyk represented a significant decline from the heights Fury had scaled throughout his career. He had previously held the WBC heavyweight title and was widely regarded as one of the finest boxers of his generation, a technically gifted fighter whose psychological resilience and ring intelligence set him apart despite the theatrics that often surrounded his public persona.
Between his last active fight and the new announcement, a full calendar year passed without Fury stepping into professional competition. His return to training and the subsequent announcement sparked immediate interest across the boxing community, though the absence of Usyk or Joshua from his immediate schedule has tempered some of the expectations around the Makhmudov fight.
Arslanbek Makhmudov, Fury’s scheduled opponent for April 11, is a hard-hitting Russian-born heavyweight with a formidable knockout record, though he has not faced opponents of the calibre that Fury, Joshua, or Usyk routinely encounter. The fight is viewed by analysts as a calculated stepping stone rather than a world title eliminator, providing Fury with competitive ring time as he works his way back toward championship contention.
The venue  Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has hosted major boxing events in recent years and offers a large-capacity crowd setting consistent with Fury’s preference for spectacle and atmosphere.
For years, a Fury versus Joshua fight has been one of British boxing’s most anticipated  and repeatedly unfulfilled matchups. Both men rose simultaneously to the summit of heavyweight boxing, and the prospect of a domestic and global showpiece between them has been discussed, negotiated, and collapsed on multiple occasions.
Following Fury’s retirement and Joshua’s own turbulent period — including back-to-back defeats and the tragic car crash — any realistic prospect of the two meeting in 2026 has effectively been shelved. As Fury confirmed on Monday, those plans remain firmly on the back burner, with no concrete timeline emerging from either camp.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn acknowledged as much in recent public remarks, noting that while Joshua may return to the ring, nothing is assured regarding timing or opponent selection in the near term.
-Beyond the personal motivations, Fury articulated a wider ambition for his return one he framed in characteristically bold terms.
“The truth of the matter is I came back for one reason only and that’s to make boxing great again,” he said. “Since I’ve retired for the fifth time over a year ago, boxing for me has gone on a downward slope and it’s become quite boring.”
The claim is not without some basis in wider commentary. With Fury on the sidelines and Joshua in uncertain form, the heavyweight division’s global appeal has rested heavily on Usyk, whose dominance has been admired but whose fights have not always generated the mass-market excitement that Fury’s bouts routinely attracted. Critics of the sport have pointed to a relative lack of crossover stars and blockbuster events in the heavyweight category, a division historically considered boxing’s flagship.
Whether Fury’s return beginning with a fight against Makhmudov rather than a world title challenge will reignite that excitement remains to be seen. But the former champion’s willingness to invoke Joshua’s tragedy as a reminder of life’s brevity suggests that this comeback, at least in Fury’s own telling, carries more personal weight than some of his previous returns to the sport.