FORMER WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT champion Tyson Fury declared himself completely happy with his four-round comeback win on Saturday night, despite a lack of action.
Fury only got going in the fourth round and his brief exhibition of power convinced Sefer Seferiโs corner to pull out the Switzerland-based Albanian before the start of the fifth round.
Fury, 29, did not take his task totally seriously early on and was told off by referee Phil Edwards for playing to the crowd, but the English boxer was pleased it was not a short fight after two years and seven months out of action.
โHe didnโt come to fight, he came to run around the ring,โ Fury told a press conference.
โThe opponent was small and light. But he took me a few rounds, which I was happy with.
โI wouldnโt change a thing, and we move on to the next one. I will go back home and have pizza and then get back on it tomorrow.
โI could have knocked him out in the first round but what good would that have done me? I got four rounds in and TV exposure.
โHe took a couple of hard punches and didnโt want to know. I learned two and a half years is a long time to be out. Iโll take my career very seriously this time and enjoy every moment.โ
The fight was marred by crowd trouble, with several spectators filmed getting out of their chairs and throwing punches as a brawl broke out.
The trouble, which appeared to involve two separate groups, broke out during the fight, with Fury at one point taking a moment to watch the scenes in the crowd.
Seferi, who was nearly five stones lighter and seven inches smaller, did show some ambition early on but Furyโs height and movement ensured there was never going to be an upset at Manchester Arena.
It was always comfortable for Fury in his first fight since winning the World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organisation (WBO) titles from Ukraineโs Wladimir Klitschko on points in November 2015.
But Furyโs reign was brief with rematches twice cancelled against Klitschko before he admitted to problems with depression, drink and drugs. Fury then piled on the pounds โ he claimed to have lost eight stones in preparation for Seferi โ and served a backdated drugs ban for testing positive for a banned steroid in February 2015.
Furyโs titles are now in the hands of English rival Anthony Joshua, but promoter Frank Warren said fights against Joshua and Deontay Wilder, the World Boxing Council (WBC) champion from American, are a way off yet.
Joshua and Wilder are in talks to face each other in early 2019, while Warren plans on keeping Fury active until a world title shot happens, with his next bout scheduled to be at Belfastโs Windsor Park, Northern Ireland on 18 August.
โTyson will step up each time,โ Warren said at a press conference.
โIโve been realistic from the beginning that weโre not going to put him in with big names early on. He needs to get the ring rust off. We picked Seferi because he had gone ten rounds with Manuel Charr.
โThe objective is to get him ready to fight for the world title as soon as possible.
โI think Anthony Joshua is fighting Alexander Povetkin in September so he will not fight until next year now and I think Wilder has got a mandatory. In the meantime we have to get Tyson more competitive fights.โ
Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy
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The fight reminded me of the Simpsons episode when Homer fought hobo Boxcar Bob in Moeโs Bar
@Stipe Miocic: boxcar willy.
โYou couldnโt give me one measly round moeโ
Lucius sweet
Absolutely pointless fight, he gained nothing from it.
@Stephen Duggan: id say his bank account gained a couple of Gs
Good to see him back. He was always going to win, needs a few more fights under his belt to get back into the groove. Great entrance as well!
A total farce and Wilder or Joshua will destroy him
@Brocky Jennings: Ya think? Give him a couple of higher Calibre opponents and get him back to previous levels and I think he beats both.
@EnKy: well said . HD can beat anyone as long as heโs on his game . He def beats wilder in my eyes but not 100% sure about Joshua . Anyone who says he canโt beat either know little
Of course he couldโve
Nice classy โfansโ.
Not in this or any other lifetime