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Sport

20th May 2018

Opponent for Tyson Fury’s comeback fight has been confirmed

We've got a fight

Darragh Murphy

The identity of Tyson Fury’s next opponent has been revealed.

924 days since his stunning victory over Wladimir Klitshcko, Fury is set to return to the ring in his native Manchester and his comeback gets underway against Albanian heavyweight Sefer Seferi.

A string of issues kept Fury out of competition since 2015 but we’ve seen a re-motivated Fury in recent months as he’s dedicated himself to a strenuous training regime and ketogenic diet, which has seen him almost return to peak physical condition.

After seeing his UK Anti-Doping ban backdated and his boxing licence reinstated, Fury is free to get back to doing what he does best.

His opponent, Seferi, has a record of 23-1 but the Fury fight will represent the most high-profile of his career to date by some margin.

Promoter Frank Warren confirmed the update on Sunday morning, revealing that the June 9 bout will be contested over 10 rounds in the Manchester Arena.

“Tyson is back, in fantastic shape and full of beans, ready to take the first step on the road back towards world domination once again,” Warren said, via the Telegraph. “He needs comeback fights in order to shake off the ring rust after such a lengthy absence and I am sure the fans will once again enjoy the ride back to the top.

“Seferi is no push over, he’s gone the distance with a world-class fighter in Manuel Charr. He has spent the majority of his career at cruiserweight, but so had Tony Bellew and David Haye before stepping up to the heavyweight division.”

Fury shed close to 10 stone since deciding to return to the sport, after ballooning up to a staggering 27 stone in his time away from the ring.

The undefeated former WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight world champion has recently claimed that he will likely have to put on weight before fight night.

“We’re going to put a bit of weight on for the fight because I feel a bit thin. So I’m going to go up a stone or two,” Fury told iFL TV last month.

“I’m going to weigh around the 19 mark, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. Not less, actually, probably 19 or above.

“For Klitschko, I was around 18st 5lbs but I was very skinny. I’d done a lot of training for that fight.

“For this one, I’ll have more muscle and look sexier. The abs will be better, the arms will be bigger.”