In light of the recent setback to his undisputed hopes, some people including George Groves worry that we may not see Tyson Fury back in the ring ever again.
The worries stem from the fact that Fury has previous on this. After the incredible highs of an unlikely away win against long-reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2014 to lift the unified world titles, Fury was due to rematch the Ukrainian.
He suffered an ankle injury in training, however, which initially delayed the fight. He then suffered a series of mental health issues which he has later explained stem from the fact he felt he had conquered the world and struggled for motivation to get back in the ring.
Now he sits as the WBC and lineal world champion with plenty of career earnings and so, after sustaining a cut in sparring which Carl Froch has questioned, people worry he might be in the same state of mind ahead of his fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
Eddie Hearn is one man who doesn’t agree, but former world champion Groves is of the mind that he might now retire.
Speaking to IFL TV, he explained why he thinks that.
“There are all these stories Fury’s had a terrible camp, he’s been dropped in camp, he’s past it, the Ngannou fight shows where he’s at.
“Well, what if he’s had a great camp, he’s high flying, he’s going to show the world what he’s capable of and beat this Ukrainian guy to get the belts, then he gets cut.
“That’s going to be even harder to get over mentally and emotionally than having a stinker of a camp and trying to turn it rounding day, so we might never see Fury fight again, who knows.”
Right now all we can do is wait and hope that this defining night in modern heavyweight history comes to pass on May 18 and we get a new undisputed king.