5 fights that cemented Tyson Fury’s heavyweight boxing legacy and the odds that swung in his favour

Tyson Fury made a career of shocking people, so it’s almost no surprise he announced his retirement from boxing with a hastily made video he posted on social media on Monday. 

The Gypsy King hangs up his gloves with a professional record of 34 wins (including 24 knockouts), two defeats and one draw. However, it’s his penchant for drama that will make his career endure to his millions of fans across the world.

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Here’s five of the heavyweight legend’s best career wins, accompanied by the betting odds you could have grabbed at the time.

5. Sefer Seferi, June 2018, Fury 1/100 to win

Arguably the most farcical fight in Fury’s career, this inclusion is far more notable for what it represented for the coming years than the in-ring action it provided or underdog odds.

This was Fury’s comeback bout, 924 days after he stunned the world with his victory over Wladimir Klitschko. It was his return after battling depression, losing his fitness and working through troubles with the UK Anti-Doping investigation that lingered. 

It was an awful fight; defined by Fury barely taking it seriously until the fourth round, which led to Seferi’s team giving up and pulling him out while he was on the stall.

Not a great win by the usual definition, but a vital step on the road to glory for a man whose toughest fight may have been his demons before he even set foot into the Manchester Arena that night.

4. Dillian Whyte, April 2022, Fury 4/25 to win

Now we’re talking. Fury dominated a bitty fight against his English rival and capped it off with a stinging right uppercut that brought 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium to their feet. 

He followed this win by knocking out Dereck Chisora, reminding the world who the best British boxer was at a time when a showdown with Anthony Joshua still looked likely. 

We never got the mega fight, and Fury actually teased retirement at this point, before heading into his final run against Del Boy, Francis Ngannou and Oleksandr Usyk.

It’s still on the table, right?

3. Wladimir Klistchko, November 2015, Fury 4/1 to win

Every legendary fighter needs a standout moment to launch their career into the stratosphere. 

It probably doesn’t feel like it now, but Fury’s excellent tactical display to beat Klitschko was a major upset that laid the blueprint for the rest of his career. He pulled it off by using his brain, maintaining his footwork and chipping away at a legend who would call time on his career just one fight later. 

That was, of course, against Joshua, who also received a major springboard after taking Klitschko’s head off. It’s easy to forget Fury softened him up first.

2. Deontay Wilder III, October 2021, Fury 4/11 to win

An 11th-round knockout says it all. The final fight of Fury’s trilogy with Wilder was as brutal as they come. 

Fury scored the first knockdown, before tasting the canvas twice in the opening four rounds. Wilder went for the kill in a bid to avenge his previous loss, but Fury’s instinctive brain kicked in again.

He landed a short, sharp right hook a split second after barely missing one with his left, sending Wilder face first into back-to-back defeats after their initial draw. It cemented Fury as one of heavyweight boxing’s greats and reaffirmed his unique skills of escapology, which only Usyk found an answer for.

1. Deontay Wilder II, February 2020, Fury 2/1 to win

Fury somehow got up from the canvas when all looked lost in his first fight with Wilder. The controversial draw, which many believe Fury won, just lit a fire in him. 

The second battle between them is one of modern boxing’s most fearless and dominant takedowns of a name that many fighters were too scared to get near. 

This was Fury at his powerful best, executing a dissection of an unbeaten opponent whose cockiness before the fight was quickly exchanged for regret. Wilder’s camp threw in the towel with their man standing wide-eyed and completely beaten in the corner. 

Fury entered the bout a slight underdog but left Las Vegas the hottest property in boxing, the scalp of a once terrifying opponent almost as poignant as the heavyweight titles wrapped around his waist.