The self-styled Gypsy King had Manchester Arena buzzing with excitement as he sauntered to the ring shortly before 10.30pm last night, bringing his boxing exile to an end as he soaked up the party atmosphere inside the 20,000 capacity venue.
But after the fight began, fans quickly began to grow tired of the bizarre mismatch inside the ring; standing more than a foot taller than his Albanian cruiserweight rival, and with more than four-and-a-half stone weight advantage, Fury seemed more interested in showboating than fighting until finally catching Seferi clean with an uppercut at the end of the fourth round.
Having briefly felt the giant’s power, Seferi wanted no more part in the fight and threw the towel in, leaving fans both inside the venue and watching at home feeling slightly underwhelmed by the occasion.
Speaking to iFL TV, Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, said: “I’m pleased he’s got it underneath his belt.
“I don’t care what anyone says, there was a bit of nervousness there.
“He showboated to the crowd a couple of times in the first two rounds, and you’ve got to be realistic. I’m not saying anything different to what I’ve said from day one. It’s going to take a bit of time before he gets back fit.
“He’s trained for the last four months and lost eight stone. That is not training for a fight, that is training to lose weight. He’s still got a bit more to do.
“I need him to be in the position where he’s training for a fight and where I know then that is he is in fight mode. He’s training, not just to get the weight off, he’s training to put into practice what he’s doing in the gym.
“I didn’t like the fight he [Seferi] sat on his stool. When Tyson showed a few flashes there in the third and fourth round, he caught him [Seferi] with an uppercut in the fourth round and I think that just knocked the fight out of the guy.
“We picked him because he had gone the distance with Manuel Charr, who is the WBA regular champion, that is the reason we picked him. So I think Tyson would have stopped him anyway.
“We were looking to get four or five rounds and that is what we got.”
But fight fans were less than impressed with the evening’s action, labelling the show an “embarrassment”.
“Frank Warren looks very upset! He knows he’s not got away with that con of a fight,” read one comment.
Another viewer wrote: “I’ve been watching boxing for about forty years and I’m struggling to think of a bigger mismatch in a supposed main event.
“What an absolute farce of a ‘contest’.”
“If Eddie Hearn promoted tonight’s fight he would’ve been slaughtered,” added a third.
“What an embarrassment it was, at least Tyson is back.”
