Ricky Hatton believes Tyson Fury is no longer at the peak of his powers following his two defeats to Oleksandr Usyk last year.
The Gypsy King had entered 2024 unbeaten as a professional but was unable to maintain that record, with Usyk beating the Briton in May and December.
Fury is one of the best heavyweight boxers in British history, having secured huge victories over the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Deontay Wilder and Dillian Whyte throughout his career.
At the age of 36, however, it’s unclear what the future holds with talk that he could retire continuing to rumble on.
Boxing news: Ricky Hatton believes Tyson Fury is no longer at the peak of his powers following his two defeats to Oleksandr Usyk last year
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Hatton, speaking to Vegas Insider, has now delivered his verdict on Fury.
And the former boxing star believes his friend has ‘seen better days’, while also suggesting retirement could be on the cards.
“Tyson is probably coming to an end now and has seen better days,” he said.
“A few years ago, I would’ve put my money on Tyson to win, but he has a few miles on the clock.
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“All of those fights years ago and that massive 10-stone weight loss before the Deontay Wilder trilogy have started to show for Tyson now.”
While there’s speculation that Fury could walk away from boxing, rumours also indicate a bout with Anthony Joshua remains a possibility.
For years, talk of the two men finally facing each other has rumbled on – only for nothing to ever materialise.
But Hatton has implored Fury to go up against Joshua in what would be one of the biggest showdowns the sport has ever seen.
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“Make the Anthony Joshua fight,” he continued. “In the heavyweight division, Daniel Dubois deserves a rematch against Oleksandr Usyk as he had hard lines last time, with controversy over the ending.
“Was it a low blow? Usyk took a full five minutes which helped him but the performance he did against Anthony Joshua, he deserves a rematch and has a right to challenge Usyk for the title.
“Let the two lads who won fight each other and the two fighters who lost fight each other.
“We’ve been waiting to see Tyson Fury fight Anthony Joshua for 10 years now which is incredible.
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Boxing news: Ricky Hatton feels Tyson Fury is a shadow of the fighter he used to be following his two defeats to Oleksandr Usyk
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“Tyson has had a great career; AJ has had a fantastic career, but both are showing signs of miles on the clock but it’s a fight we have always wanted to see.
“You would still pay all day long to watch the fight. Let them fight each other and then I would like to see them both retire then as they have nothing more to prove as a friend.
“If they have that last send-off fight as we’ve all been waiting to see, they can then hang the gloves up and have done us proud.”
If that bout does happen, Hatton insists it must happen in Britain – rather than Saudi Arabia.
Boxing news: Ricky Hatton feels Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua must face each other after years of speculation
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“It should be in Britain. If you have a fight like that with two heavyweights at the top of the division from Great Britain, then I think it does need to be in the UK,” he insisted.
“There’s a lot of fights in Saudi and look at the job Turki Alalshikh has done for boxing with the big fights he has made but look at the atmosphere at Wembley for Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua.
“Not just the fight, the build-up, and the whole occasion, no disrespect to Saudi but this is where fights with two former heavyweight world champions from the UK should happen and there’s only one place and it’s in Britain.”