WHILE rumours of a Tyson Fury comeback in 2026 continue to surface there was a seat reserved for ‘The Gypsy King’ at last night’s Queensberry show at the O2 Arena in London.
A typically well-tailored Fury, 34-2-1 (24 KOs), sat next to promoter Frank Warren to take in the night’s action headlined by two of the heavyweight division’s in-form men in Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley. Despite the immeasurable gap in experience between the two it was Wardley who took the spoils with an 11th TKO win.
Referee Howard Foster faced criticism for his timing of the stoppage with many believing the fight was waved off too soon. It was later revealed that Parker was ahead on two scorecards with the third level. If the former WBO champ had held on he would have won by majority decision and moved forward to a possible title shot against undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk. Instead, it is Wardley – who now holds the WBO Interim belt – that may face the Ukrainian great in 2026.
Fury, who has a close friendship with Parker, was backstage prior to the fight taking place to spend some time in the New Zealander’s changing room. Earlier this morning Fury took to Instagram to give his thoughts on last night’s action.
“The fight was an amazing fight, both fighters had a lot of success,” Fury said.
“I had Joe up four rounds going into round 11. It’s heavyweight boxing, you can’t go swimming and not get wet – it’s a cliché – and he got wet. The referee jumped in. A few unanswered shots and that’s what it takes. It’s one of those things. It’s heavyweight boxing, you can get caught – I know all about getting caught. But on a whole it was a fantastic event between two great heavyweights.
“Joseph Parker’s gonna come back stronger – I know that. Commiserations to my brother and all the team. Everyone did a fantastic job. Everybody got home in one piece – can’t say fairer than that.”
