Whatever their disposition, or situation, they have time on their hands, lots of it, and it’s likely that in these hands – idle, twitchy – they hold a phone which offers distractions and just the right dosage of misery to make them feel they are not alone. On it, too, they will find rumours, horror stories, and images doctored by AI. They won’t know what to believe. They won’t know who to believe. 

And so, on January 4, the time felt right for Tyson Fury to claim he was coming back. “2026 is that year, Return of The Mac,” he wrote on his Instagram. “Been away for a while but I’m back now, 37 years old and still punching, nothing better to do than punch men in the face and get paid for it.”

It was hardly the most inspired rallying cry, but then it didn’t need to be, for whatever Fury wrote was bound to be greeted by shrugs and rolling eyes. He had in fact been teasing a return throughout December and over the festive period. On December 7, he posted a cartoon image with the words “the king must return to his throne”, while on New Year’s Day he posted pictures of people wearing Team Fury shirts with “I’m back” across them and “Incoming. Let’s have the best year ever”.

In other words, it was hardly subtle, the messaging. Truth be told, we all guessed that as soon as Fury started to get bored, or the attention tilted towards heavyweights still active, there was every chance we would hear from him, see him, and become once again pawns in his game. We also know how deflating January can be and how a man like Fury, someone fuelled by a need to be relevant, would likely feel that deflation more than most as a new year begins. 

The only mystery surrounding this news as we now enter January has to do with dates, opponents, locations. Those details will remain unknown – to us, to Fury – until January has passed and Fury has decided whether his January “comeback announcement” was just a bit of new-year banter or the real thing; something upon which he must now act. Only then will we start to take Fury’s comeback seriously and only then will we get a proper sense of the fighter’s sincerity and indeed ambition at the age of 37. 

For now, at a time of broken promises and New Year’s resolutions destined to be forgotten, let us simply use our imagination and play along. After all, it’s January. We’ve nothing better to do. 

Potential Fury opponent one: Arslanbek Makhmudov, 21-2 (19 KOs)

Whether we like it or not, Makhmudov just has the look, style and smell of a Tyson Fury comeback opponent. I can’t even explain why this is the case – it just is. It is no surprise, either, that the giant Russian has already been linked with a Fury fight, not when his style seems so perfect for him, and not when Makhmudov’s last fight, a win over Dave Allen in October, enhanced his profile in Great Britain, where Fury resides. He does, to the untrained eye, tick every box, Makhmudov. His record looks good on paper, he is coming off a win, and he is a lump Fury can move around; someone whose slowness will allow Fury to get away with any mistakes he might make due to ring rust.

Potential Fury opponent two: Fabio Wardley, 20-0-1 (19 KOs)

This fight would seem, on the face of it, an easy one to make, with Fury and Wardley having an affiliation with promoter Frank Warren and Fury formerly holding the belt Wardley now owns: the WBO heavyweight title. It would also be a reasonably big fight in the UK given Wardley’s sudden and dramatic rise to prominence and the fact that Fury is, well, Fury. 

Some might suggest that the fight has come too soon – for Wardley, that is, rather than Fury – but Wardley, for all his inexperience, has never shown signs of backing down, taking the easy route, or moving with any degree of caution. On the contrary, he has been open to big challenges ever since he started climbing the world rankings. Even Oleksandr Usyk, the best of them all, was a champion Wardley was desperate to fight before Usyk decided better of it and vacated his WBO title. In an ideal world, Wardley said, he would rather have fought and beaten Usyk for the belt than receive it one day in the post. If true, there can be no clearer evidence of his courage. 

Potential Fury opponent three: Daniel Dubois, 22-3 (21 KOs)

As with Wardley, and for mainly the same reasons, you can assume this would be one of the easier Fury fights to make in 2026. Not only that, Dubois is, like Fury, coming off a defeat to Oleksandr Usyk and is in need of a big fight to get him going again. Now, whether Fury is the right man for that job is arguable – for the last thing Dubois needs is another loss – but the opportunity, if offered to him, could be too good to turn down. As for Fury, Dubois represents his favourite kind of opponent: heavy-handed, yes, but there to be manoeuvred and outboxed if focused on the job and anything close to his best. 

Potential Fury opponent four: Anthony Joshua, 29-4 (26 KOs)

In light of the recent tragedy involving Joshua, I am loath to include him on a list of potential Tyson Fury opponents, for fighting again will and should be the last thing on Joshua’s mind right now. In fact, his inclusion on this list is purely the result of Joshua himself expressing an interest in a Fury fight before that horrific accident in Nigeria at the end of last year. It is also included because this fight, whatever remains of it, will still be of interest to fans and especially promoters, TV execs, and financiers. But it should have happened a long time ago. Not now. 

Potential Fury opponent five: Murat Gassiev, 33-2 (26 KOs)

Gassiev, a new addition to the Fury sweepstakes, finds himself suddenly popular on account of a sixth-round stoppage win over Kubrat Pulev just before Christmas. That win, as unlikely as it appeared in the first few rounds of the fight, landed the hard-hitting Russian the WBA “regular” heavyweight title and immediately circled him as a path of least resistance for any heavyweight either looking to secure a “world title” as leverage ahead of bigger fights or to simply parade around town and call themselves a “world champion” while knowing the truth. 

Whichever it is, Gassiev won’t be lacking suitors this year, that’s for sure, and there’s every chance Fury could be one of them. Because the reality is, although he packs a punch, Gassiev, at 6’2 and 230lbs, is still one of the smaller heavyweights out there – meaning he should be easy to control – and Pulev, at the time of his unfortunate collapse, was 44 years of age. Better yet, in a world of confusion and ignorance, it won’t take much to convince people that Gassiev vs. Fury is a fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. In fact, it might be easier convincing the people of that than it is convincing them that Tyson Fury is preparing to fight again in 2026.