IF he can get his boxing licence reinstated, Tyson Fury plans to return to the ring next year.

“I’ve only got seven stone to lose, it’s not like I’ve got 27 stone to lose,” he revealed to Sky Sports. “We’re looking at next year. I’m going to train over Christmas and get back in there next year.”

He added, “Ready as ever. I’ve had two years out the ring, fat as a pig, hairy as an animal but still as hungry a lion. You have two years out of the ring and it gives you that ‘va va voom’ to get back in there, bust a few heads.”

Fury, the former heavyweight champion of the world who is still waiting for a hearing before an anti-doping panel in the UK, believes he can swiftly move to the big fights that out there for him in world boxing.

“There’s only a few weightlifters to beat,” he shrugged. “Do I need that many warm-ups? I don’t think so.”

But he does need to get fighting fit and therefore doesn’t think he will be able to box again before the summer of 2018. “I ain’t going to do it in February, March because I’m not in shape,” he noted.

Tyson Fury

But Fury maintained, “There are only a couple of men who stand between me and everlasting glory.”

Those men are Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. “I know that Anthony Joshua is an option,” Fury confirmed. “I think the public are going to relish the thought of making this fight happen.

“I’m so happy and excited to be potentially part of one of the biggest fights in boxing history.”