Boxing champion Tyson Fury makes retirement U-turn

LONDON: Controversial world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury made an abrupt U-turn on his retirement decision on Monday, tweeting: "I'm here to stay."

"Hahahaha u think you will get rid of the GYPSYKING that easy!!! I'm here to stay," Fury wrote on Twitter. "#TheGreatest just shows u what the Medea (sic) are like. Tut tut."

He added: "Soon as I get better I'll be defending what's mine the heavyweight thrown (sic)."

The provocative 28-year-old British brawler, dogged by reports he failed a drugs test for cocaine, had earlier declared himself "retired" in a profanity-strewn tweet.

"Boxing is the saddest thing I ever took part in," he had written three hours earlier, adding "I'm the greatest and I'm also retired."

Reports by US broadcaster ESPN last week claimed Fury had tested positive for cocaine.

The British fighter recently cancelled an October bout with Wladimir Klitschko to defend his WBA and WBO heavyweight belts.

Contacted by AFP, Fury's promoters, Hennessy Sports, said they did not wish to comment.

Fury had been scheduled to earn the biggest purse of his career in a rematch with Klitschko at the Manchester Arena after shocking the Ukrainian last November to become world champion.

However, Fury withdrew from that date as his camp claimed he had been "declared mentally unfit to fight".

In another tweet on Monday, Fury said he was "getting the right help" and would "be back even stronger than before".

ESPN reported Fury tested positive after providing a urine sample to the Las Vegas-based Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) in Lancaster, England on September 22.

Cocaine, while an illegal drug, is not banned in boxing if taken out of competition.

Doping hearing

Fury also posted a link to a YouTube video in which he said George Kokkalenios, an American lawyer, was "telling the truth about the corruption in boxing".

The video showed Kokkalenios at the wheel of a car, talking to an unidentified person behind the camera and suggesting Klitschko was somehow involved in the cocaine reports about Fury.

"What's going on with Tyson is really a major travesty," he said.

"He's getting railroaded. He's been completely railroaded by crooked people. He's not on drugs -- I know that for a fact. He's not taking anything, he's not doping. The system is corrupt and that's it.

"Klitschko, he is definitely involved in this because he's got everyone in his pocket. I'm not saying he's a bad man at all, but I can tell you this for a fact: his wealth carries a lot of influence."

Fury, the self-styled 'Gypsy King', also won the IBF belt in his fight against Klitschko, but had to forfeit it after failing to fulfil a mandatory bout against Vyacheslav Glazkov.

A previously scheduled rematch with Klitschko, set for July 9, was scrapped after Fury sustained an ankle injury.

Following the cancellation of that fight, it emerged that UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) had charged Fury and his cousin, Hughie, with a doping offence. They deny wrongdoing.

The sample, taken nine months prior to Fury's sensational victory over Klitschko, contained traces of the banned substance nandrolone.

Fury was provisionally suspended, but his ban has since been lifted and his legal team have threatened action against UKAD.

He is due to face a hearing in November and could be stripped of his titles if found guilty.

British promoter Eddie Hearn recently said Fury would never fight again, prompting his trainer and uncle, Peter Fury, to claim his nephew would be back in action next year.

Fury has courted almost constant controversy since winning the world title, angering many with a series of highly sexist, anti-Semitic and homophobic comments.