Kevin Lerena feels that if Tyson Fury walks away from boxing after the defence of his WBC heavyweight title against Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, it will open up opportunities for other fighters in the weight division.

Lerena, rated No 26 by the WBC, introduced himself in the heavyweight class last month by winning the WBA Intercontinental belt. He is ranked at No 8 by the IBO, 13th by the WBA and the IBF is expected to give him a top 10 ranking.

“I am not aware that Tyson made such an announcement. His retirement, if true, will open opportunities for many fighters in the ratings,” Lerena said. 

Fury, 33, with 22 knockouts in 31 wins and a draw, will be fighting at home in the UK for the first time since his 2018 wins over Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta in Manchester and Belfast, and it will be his first fight in London since a 2015 victory over Christian Hammer.

Whyte, 34, from Brixton in London, has held many international titles including the British title. He won the WBC interim title in March last year after defeating Alexander Povetkin. Whyte has knocked out 19 of his 30 victims and was stopped twice, by Anthony Joshua in 2015 and Povetkin in 2020.

Fury – who has previously held the unified WBA Super, IBF, WBO and IBO and The Ring titles – confirmed this week to Badlefthook.com that he is walking away from boxing after Saturday’s clash.

“Win, lose or draw on Saturday night, it’s the final farewell. It’s quite emotional, to be honest – all this, the ride of, like, starting as a little kid and wanting to be heavyweight champion and then to finally be hanging up the gloves. And I know nobody believes me because they all think I’m after money or whatever else [but] there’s only a certain amount of people who know that money don’t mean nothing to me.”