Fury to have no coach or nutritionist for comeback

Tyson Fury claims he will have no trainer for his comeback fight against Arslanbek Makhmudov.

The two-time heavyweight world champion will come out of retirement on 11 April after a year-long spell away from boxing.

American coach SugarHill Steward has trained Fury since 2019, helping him reclaim the WBC world title and coached him in the two defeats by Oleksandr Usyk.

Speaking to the 5 Live Boxing podcast with Steve Bunce, Fury said he would “do it all” by himself for his comeback training camp.

“I don’t need a trainer, I don’t need a nutritionist, I don’t need a mind coach, I don’t need a sleep coach and I definitely don’t need a strength coach,” he said.

“Here’s what I need in boxing – someone to wash my gumshield out and give me some water between rounds, and give me a smear of Vaseline across the eyes, and leave the rest to me.

Fury retired after successive defeats by former undisputed heavyweight champion Usyk.

The 37-year-old, who has 34 wins in 37 fights including one draw, was in vintage form at his first news conference since announcing his return on Tuesday in London.

He tickled his opponent Makhmudov during their face-off and said he wanted to “make boxing great again”.

Fury intends to win a world title during his comeback and dismissed claims he might struggle to sell 60,000 tickets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium alongside the unheralded Makhmudov.

The Morecambe fighter spent two-and-a-half years out of the ring in his twenties because of a doping ban and mental health problems, but returned in 2018 after losing over 50kg and became world champion again in 2020.

“I’m 37 years old, been inactive 16 months, which is a massive factor,” he said.

“I did it before with three years out the ring but I was only 29. Now I’m an older person, a pensioner really.”