Fury eager to fight British rival Joshua before retirement

Tyson Fury says it would be "an absolute dying travesty" if he does not fight Anthony Joshua before he hangs up his gloves for good.

The WBC heavyweight champion has been touted for a match-up with his fellow Briton for a number of years, only to see each attempt to set up a bout fall short.

A fight looked closer than ever earlier this year before another breakdown in negotiations, leaving Fury instead to set up another fight with Derek Chisora next month.

Though Fury has retired, or indicated he would quit, multiple times before, the 34-year-old now says he will not depart from the sport before he fights his rival.

"I don't think I can retire today," he told The High Performance podcast. "Because I need that Joshua fight. We have been trying to make that fight for years.

"It's the fight that people want to see. It's the fight that I want to see as a boxing fan. 

"I think it would be an absolute dying travesty if me and Joshua didn't fight in this era."

Elsewhere, Fury spoke about the fresh wave of talent in the heavyweight division, led by Oleksandr Usyk, that has emerged around him, and how he sometimes wonders whether he still has the fight in him.

"For the last four or five years, there has been this three-headed monster: me, [Deontay] Wilder, Joshua," he added.

"Joshua and Wilder have been slain, and I'm the last one standing.

"All of a sudden, you've got some new people coming up now - Joe Joyce, Daniel Dubois, and Usyk's gate-crashed the party.

"Now there's a load of new blood that wasn't there five years ago and it's like, 'Can you beat this person?'."

Fury will fight Chisora at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 3.