Tyson Fury’s on-off retirement appears to have been shelved once more after he revealed plans to fight three times in 2018.
Just last week, and not for the first time, Fury appeared to have ended his career by revealing he would not be applying for a new boxing license.
But a week on from claiming he would not seek to regain his licence from the BBBoC Fury tweeted: 'Be ready to fight in April 2018 in a great fight! & again in the summer in a mega fight! & again in back end of year. 3 big fights in 2018.'
He has not fought for nearly two years since ending Wladimir Klitschko’s world heavyweight title reign in Dusseldorf in November 2015.
Having twice postponed rematches with Klitschko last year, the 29-year-old lost his boxing licence last October when he admitted he was using cocaine and struggling with depression.
Fury had hoped to return to the ring earlier this year but that plan was scuppered when a National Anti-Doping Panel hearing was adjourned in May.
With the hearing still unresolved, Fury remains without a licence to fight from the UK's governing body. But now he says he will be ring-ready by April. Fury was at ringside last month when his cousin Hughie Fury came up short in his bid to take the WBO heavyweight title from champion Joseph Parker in Manchester.
The elder Fury has ballooned up in weight during his time away from the ring and, despite his latest comeback plans, pictures that emerged following Hughie's defeat by Parker showed the former unified king looking well off fighting weight.
Parker, Britain’s Anthony Joshua and American Deontay Wilder hold the world heavyweight belts at present. Both Wilder and Joshua are scheduled to make world title defenses in the coming weeks. Joshua defends his WBA, IBF, IBO titles against Kubrat Pulev on October 28 and Wilder defends the WBC title against Bermane Stiverne on November 4.