LONDON — Three hours after declaring he had retired, troubled world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury took to Twitter again on Monday to announce: “I’m here to stay.”
The contradictory tweets came almost two weeks after the British fighter called off his title rematch against Wladimir Klitschko for a second time.
The official reason given then was that Fury was “medically unfit,” with no details provided. Fury had earlier been charged by the U.K. Anti-Doping agency over a positive test. Fresh reports emerged on Friday of alleged drug issues.
Fury hasn’t fought since beating Klitschko in Germany in November 2015 to claim the WBA, WBO and IBF titles.
In a tweet on Monday morning, Fury wrote: “Boxing is the saddest thing I ever took part in, all a pile of (expletive), I’m the greatest, & I’m also retired.” The post ended with another obscenity.
As news of Fury’s apparent retirement spread, he returned to Twitter on Monday afternoon.
“Hahahaha u think you will get rid of the GYPSYKING that easy!!!” Fury said, referring to his nickname. “I’m here to stay. TheGreatest just shows u what the Medea are like. Tut tut.”
Alongside a picture of himself with his belts, Fury wrote: “Soon as I get better I’ll be defending what’s mine the heavyweight thrown.”