Tyson Fury revealed that the deaths of two of Anthony Joshua’s friends in a December car crash played a major role in motivating his return to boxing.

Fury is set to step back into the ring on April 11 after a 15-month hiatus, taking on Russian-born heavyweight Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The 37-year-old had retired following his second consecutive defeat to Oleksandr Usyk at the end of 2024 and spent a full year out of the ring before announcing his comeback on January 4. The announcement came just a week after Joshua was involved in a car accident in Nigeria that tragically claimed the lives of his close friends, Sina Ghami and Latif Ayodele.

“Tomorrow might not ever come and I suppose the biggest turning point in this comeback for me was the tragedy that happened with Anthony Joshua,” Fury said on Monday. “You should never put things off until tomorrow, or next year, or next week because tomorrow is not promised to nobody.”

Plans for a long-anticipated showdown between Fury and Joshua in 2026 have been put on hold for now.

Fury, a former two-time world heavyweight champion, also explained that part of his motivation for returning was to restore excitement to the sport.

“The truth of the matter is I came back for one reason only and that’s to make boxing great again,” he added. “Since I retired for the fifth time over a year ago, boxing for me has gone on a downward slope and it’s become quite boring.”