Tyson Fury’s career, from Manchester to the Joshua fight

Tyson Fury has been a professional heavyweight since 2008, and few careers in British boxing have taken as many turns. He has won world titles, given them up, fallen out of the sport entirely and come back to win again. Anyone looking at the Tyson Fury odds for his meeting with Anthony Joshua is weighing up a record of 36 wins, two defeats and one draw, with 25 wins inside the distance. This is how that record was built.

Early years and the first belts

Fury was born in Manchester on 12 August 1988 and named after Mike Tyson. He made his professional debut in Nottingham in December 2008, stopping Bela Gyongyosi in the first round, and spent the next few years learning on the job against domestic opposition.

The first big step came in July 2011, when he outpointed Dereck Chisora at Wembley Arena to take the British and Commonwealth titles.  In April 2013, on his debut at Madison Square Garden, Steve Cunningham dropped him in the second round. Fury got up and knocked Cunningham out in the seventh.

The night in Dusseldorf

On 28 November 2015, Fury faced Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf. Klitschko had held a version of the heavyweight title for more than nine years and had not lost in over a decade. Fury switched stances, used his feet and never let the champion settle. All three judges scored it for the challenger, and he travelled home with the WBA, IBF and WBO belts.

Time away and the return

What followed was the hardest stretch of his life. Fury was stripped of the IBF title within weeks, and he later gave up the remaining belts as he dealt with depression and problems with alcohol and drugs, which he has spoken about openly since. He did not box for two and a half years, and his weight rose well beyond his fighting size.

He returned in June 2018 against Sefer Seferi in Manchester, and within six months he was in Los Angeles facing Deontay Wilder for the WBC title.

The Wilder trilogy

The first fight, in December 2018, ended in a split draw. Fury was knocked down twice, including a heavy fall in the 12th round, and still got up to finish on his feet. The rematch in Las Vegas in February 2020 was one-sided. Fury went forward from the opening bell and Wilder’s corner stopped the fight in the seventh, giving Fury the WBC belt.

The third fight, in October 2021, was even more chaotic. Both men were knocked down, Fury twice in the fourth round, before Fury stopped Wilder in the 11th. The Ring magazine named it fight of the year.

Wembley, Usyk and the latest comeback

In April 2022, Fury stopped Dillian Whyte in six rounds in front of 94,000 people at Wembley Stadium, a European record crowd for boxing at the time. He beat Chisora for a third time that December and then outpointed Francis Ngannou in Riyadh in 2023, despite being knocked down in the third round.

The two defeats on his record both came against Oleksandr Usyk in 2024. The first, in May, was a split decision for the undisputed title. The rematch in December went to Usyk on all three cards.

Fury announced his retirement in January 2025, though as with previous retirements it did not last. He returned in April 2026 with a wide points win over Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, then stopped Mariusz Wach in Thailand that July.

What the record shows

Fury’s career rarely follows a straight line. He has been floored by heavy punchers and come back to win, and the only man to beat him is a former undisputed cruiserweight champion who outboxed him twice. Those trying to read the boxing odds on any Fury fight will find two things in his history: a heavyweight who is hard to hit cleanly, and one who almost always gets up when he is.

Joshua is the domestic rival he has been linked with for most of the past decade. Whatever happens when they finally meet on 11 December, Fury’s place among the best British heavyweights is already secure.

Betting is for over-18s only.