Tyson Fury has hit back at Chris Eubank Sr. after the former two-weight world champion described him as an "apprentice" who "didn't learn to fight."
Fury is back in training and moved a big step closer to sealing a return to the ring in 2018 after signing with management company MTK Global.
The 29-year-old has not fought since his impressive defeat of Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, which saw him unify the WBA Super, IBF and WBO world titles.
However Eubank, who won both the WBO middleweight and super-middleweight world titles during his illustrious 13-year career, claimed that he was not impressed by former heavyweight champion's career prior to his boxing exile.
"Tyson Fury, at one time, was learning to box," Eubank Sr. told TalkSport. "He had a fight, he won that fight and then he imploded.
"He only got to apprenticeship position, as far as I was concerned, and then he stopped learning.
"Everyone is talking about a fighter who speaks very well in terms of getting people's attention, but he didn't learn to fight."
Not one to accept criticism lying down, Fury took to his Instagram account Wednesday to address the 51-year-old's comments.
"A lot of people would look up to you -- you did achieve some great things," said Fury in a video directed at the retired fighter.
"But to try and downplay my achievements, when I have dedicated my whole life to something and to try and say bad things, it's just not called for.
"The truth of the matter is you only won one belt in your division, I won five in mine -- four heavyweight championships of the world and a Ring Magazine belt as their Fighter of the Year."
In a departure from his usual social media call-outs, Fury displayed a calmer and more measured side as he added: 'So when someone dedicates their full life to doing something and then to try and get that downplayed by someone who didn't achieve half as much, that's very disrespectful and very distasteful, but good luck in your life and your career.'
Fury is not alone in his recent condemnation of Eubank Sr. after George Groves -- who will fight Chris Eubank Jr. on Feb. 17 -- told ESPN that his opponent's father was 'self-obsessed'.