Fury ends retirement to face Chisora because boxing 'is an addiction'

Plus notes: Top Rank to open 2023 schedule with heavyweight doubleheader; Quick hits; Show and tell

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Tyson Fury just could not stay away from the ring, and few expected that he actually would.

The WBC and lineal heavyweight champion spent much of the early part of the year through the summer vowing that he was done with boxing.

All through the lead up to his British homecoming fight on April 23 against mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte, Fury said he would retire afterward. After knocking Whyte out in the sixth-round of the one-sided bout before a record crowd of 94,000 at Wembley Stadium in London, Fury indeed said he was retired.

He went so far as to vacate The Ring magazine title when asked by the publication to clarify his status.

But few believed Fury would simply walk away while still the No. 1 heavyweight on the planet, still with huge fights to make and hundreds of millions of dollars to earn.

So, it surprised exactly nobody when, after a few months of kicking back, he made it clear he would return.

“I am in a very good place with boxing at the moment. I’m back, I’m hungry, I’m putting the work in, I’m grinding,” Fury said.