{"id":599758,"date":"2026-05-23T12:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T12:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599758\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T12:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T12:19:08","slug":"im-back-and-i-want-him-former-heavyweight-champion-calls-out-tyson-fury-ahead-of-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/599758\/","title":{"rendered":"“I’m back and I want him”: Former heavyweight champion calls out Tyson Fury ahead of comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tyson Fury<\/a> has been called out by a former heavyweight champion who could scupper the 37-year-old\u2019s expected clash with Anthony Joshua later this year.<\/p>\n

The two Brits are set to collide in October or November, only Joshua must first defeat Kristian Prenga in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on July 25.<\/p>\n

Fury, meanwhile, is targeting another warm-up fight, possibly in August, following his unanimous decision victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n

Prior to beating Makhmudov, \u2018The Gypsy King\u2019 had not fought since 2024, when he suffered consecutive points defeats to Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> in May and December.<\/p>\n

It appears that Fury is eager to make up for lost time, wanting one more fight before finally colliding with long-time rival Joshua.<\/p>\n

Among the names that have been mentioned, Andy Ruiz Jr has seemingly been the most forthcoming in his pursuit of facing the two-time heavyweight champion.<\/p>\n

Despite having not fought since his draw with Jarrell Miller in August 2024<\/a>, the American, who suffered a hand injury in that fight, is now preparing to end two years of inactivity and wants lock horns with Fury.<\/p>\n

Speaking with talkSPORT<\/a>, Ruiz insisted that, even if their showdown does not materialise in August, he will nonetheless be targeting a Fury fight in the next 12 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s exactly why I had to come over here [to Egypt] and show my face, to let them know that Andy\u2019s back, Andy\u2019s recovered and he\u2019s in good shape.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next 12 months, or before I retire\u2026 I want Tyson Fury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Known for his huge upset victory over Joshua in 2019, when he became a unified world champion, Ruiz has fought on a largely sporadic basis since losing their rematch later that year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tyson Fury has been called out by a former heavyweight champion who could scupper the 37-year-old\u2019s expected clash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-599758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}