Ricky Hatton has dismissed Tyson Fury's claim that he's retired from professional boxing following his win over Dillian Whyte.
Fury successfully defended his WBC heavyweight title with a sixth-round TKO win over Whyte at Wembley on Saturday.
Speaking after his victory, Fury insisted he had retired and would only be interested in exhibition fights, with a hybrid bout against UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou a potential option for the future.
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But Hatton, who is close friends with Fury, believes the 'Gypsy King' is not yet ready to hang up the gloves and will want to face the winner of Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, who are expected to meet in a rematch in July for the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight belts.
"I don’t think he'll retire," Hatton told Boxing Social.
"I know he wants to fight Usyk, he wants to fight Joshua. I think he'll retire just so Eddie [Hearn] and AJ pull their fingers out.
"He might retire and say, 'well I'm retiring now', if Eddie and AJ think they've lost it they might stand a better chance of getting it on.
"I think Tyson is a fighting man, he just loves to fight doesn't he? I think Tyson will be on his settee in five years' time and think, 'I’ll give it another go'. That’s Tyson isn't it?
"The reason why we went into this game is to try and become the best.
"Tyson's the best, Usyk is number two and AJ is just behind there, you want to fight the best, Tyson's the best, you don't want to retire without fighting the best, do you? I think they’ll want to get it on."
Fury's father, John, also doubts the heavyweight champion has fully retired from boxing.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's fight, Fury Sr told SPORTbible: "At the end of the day, when he goes home, the dust has settled and there's nothing happening. He'll get bored.
"With Tyson, what else will he do? Boxing is his life, he's made it his career. It's hard to just shut the door on something like that.
"When you love it so much, when you've got a passion for it.
"I'd be surprised if he does retire. When he sees the other big boys coming out, the winner out of Usyk and Joshua, I'm sure he'll want a piece of that action."
Meanwhile, Hatton is currently preparing to make his own comeback to boxing, ten years after retiring from the sport.
The 43-year-old will take on former three-weight world champion Marco Antonio Barrera, 48, in an eight-round exhibition fight in Manchester on July 2.
"I can't wait to be honest with you," Hatton told Sky Sports News.
"Even though we retired, we're not dead, we're still proud champions me and Marco.
"We've still got to set ourselves goals, we've got dreams to live. It was an easy decision to make."
Topics: Ricky Hatton, Tyson Fury, Boxing, Heavyweight Boxing
Rory O'Callaghan