Former two time heavyweight champ Tyson Fury won his return bout after a 16 month layoff in an easy 12 round decision over Arslan Makhmudov Saturday night.
Saturday night in North London marked the return of former WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury after yet another announced "retirement' of 15 months. And, "The Gypsy King" handled Russian Arslan Makhmudov in a one-sided 12 round decision to set up a potential mega money showdown with former, fellow two time heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua, who was there ringside.
The 37 year old Fury,, now 35-2-1, 24 KOs, looked overweight from the jump and clearly has slowed down from the form that saw him upset Wladimir Klitschko and kayo Deontay Wilder twice many years ago. However, he still was faster and more skilled than Makhmudov.
In front of over 50,000 fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Fury fought a lot of the fight early from a southpaw stance and was landing some left hands and uppercuts inside. Makhmudov would occasionally land a good straight left hand, but did little body or head movement and was an easy target throughout the fight.
Makhmudov, now 21-3, 19 KOs, was coming off two wins in 2025, and immediately pressed forward, looking to land a powerful right hands, His early aggression appeared to catch Fury a bit off guard, but that was about it.
In his first fight since losing his title rematch to Oleksandr Usyk in Decemberr of 2024, Fury began to find the range and some timing in the middle rounds, landing more effectively. He built up a significant lead and as the fight entered the championship rounds, Fury was clearly still quicker to the punches and repeatedly tied up Makhmudov, if he landed a shot or two..
The judges ultimately scored the runaway verdict 120-108 twice and 119-109, all in favor of Fury.
The bigger drama was the post-fight interview on Netflix in the ring where Fury challenged his countryman Joshua at ringside to future, non-title mega money fight for both of them.
Joshua basically replied that Fury should enjoy the night/his win and he would wait some time and then decide whether to fight Fury later this year.
On the undercard, popular British contender Conor Benn, the son of hall of famer Nigel Benn, did his part to setup a large fight for a welterweight title possibly later this year. This, as he won an easy 10 round decision over veteran, former two time world champ, Regis Prograis.
Benn, now 24-1, 14 KOs, was the quicker busier fighter throughout the 10 rounds, as Prograis, now 30-4, who's slowed down at 37 years old, was unable to consistently put punches together. Benn was successful to body with both hands and kept landing big rights to the head, but could not drop the American.
Benn will look to potentially fight Ryan Garcia for the WBC welterweight crown down the road. For his part, Prograis announced his retirement after the bout, as he's now lost three of his last four fights by lopsided decision.