On Saturday night, Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) will end his fifth retirement when boxing Russian giant Arslanbek Makhmudov (21-2, 19 KOs) at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

The two-time heavyweight champion's return to the ring will be screened exclusively by Netflix.

Although Fury, 37, insists that his focus is squarely on Makhmudov, talk of a potential third fight with The Ring, WBC, WBA and IBF champion Oleksandr Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) has already started.

In May 2024, Fury and Usyk met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the undisputed heavyweight title.

A dramatic fight swung back and forth, but after struggling during the middle rounds Usyk hurt Fury in the ninth and finished strongly to eke out a tight split decision.

Seven months later, a heavier Fury returned to Riyadh intent on revenge.

He performed well and forced the action throughout but — again — Usyk's incredible gas tank, unflappable nature and outstanding ability got him across the line and he was awarded a unanimous decision.

The result led to Fury announcing his retirement from the sport.

Usyk, 39, admits that he is entering the final furlong of his outstanding career and will defend his WBC title against Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in Egypt on May 23.

He has said that he anticipates a third fight with Fury before hanging up his gloves.

After the press conference for this weekend’s fight with Makhmudov, Fury spoke with former undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and two-weight world champion David Haye about a potential trilogy bout.

“Will it happen, who knows? Who else are they going to fight? Nobody. Do I want to give him another payday? Not really. But would I do it for free? Of course, because I'm a fighting man,” he said.

“It's a hard one because I know for a fact if I don't knock him out, I'm not getting a decision. No matter what I do, if I win 11 out of 12 rounds, I've lost. That’s just my personal opinion.

“We'll concentrate on my own guy here [Makhmudov] and and see where this goes because I've had two fights with him. He's beat me fair and square twice, I can't do anymore. As far as I'm concerned, that's closed for now.”

This week, Fury has spoken about the sadness he felt watching last weekend’s fight between the faded Deontay Wilder and Derek Chisora with the dawning realisation that inevitably, age will eventually catch up with him.

Makhmudov should provide Fury with a decent gauge of exactly where he stands.

If Fury's reflexes and chin have eroded during his 16-month layoff, the 36-year-old certainly hits hard enough to make ‘The Gypsy King’ regret returning to the ring.

However with Saturday’s fight quickly approaching, any concerns about his health or longevity has been pushed to one side as Fury has already drafted out the rest of his 2026 campaign and despite protestations, Usyk still looms large on the horizon.

“I’m going to concentrate on this big Russian fella, then Anthony Joshua and then maybe have the third fight,” he said.

"I want three fights this year. If I'm back, I want a real go at it. I don’t want to be inactive. I want to have a real run this year and I want to do April, maybe September and December. Maybe Usyk will be that December fight but if it's going to happen, it's got to happen here. I'm not going abroad again. No way. It's going to happen here.”