Tyson Fury Says Weight By no means Mattered Earlier than Comeback

It is a familiar line from Tyson Fury, but it also points to the real question hanging over his return. The issue is not whether Fury has won fights while carrying weight. He clearly has. The issue is time.

Fury says he is around 20 stone and expects to come in under 19 stone for his return, which he is targeting for the first quarter of 2026. That would put him at roughly 16 months out of the ring by the time he boxes again, at an age where inactivity tends to show up faster and stay longer.

There is precedent for long absences. After defeating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, Fury disappeared for more than two years and returned significantly heavier. That comeback worked because the division was slower and the demands were lower. That version of Fury could afford rounds to settle.

His most recent evidence is less forgiving. Fury weighed a career-high 281 pounds for his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk in December 2024. The weight itself was not the problem. He fought competitively and had moments. The margins, however, were thinner.

The only time Fury’s condition clearly betrayed him came in the 2023 fight with Francis Ngannou, when preparation appeared casual and consequences followed. That night mattered because it showed how quickly his style collapses without discipline.

At around 265 pounds, Fury would be close to where he was for Dillian Whyte, Derek Chisora, and the first Deontay Wilder wins. That weight has worked before.

Fury’s body has survived criticism before; what it has not proven is that it can still carry elite timing after 16 months away.