TYSON FURY’S mysterious Dick Turpin reference in his latest retirement speech looks like a moan at his paymasters undervaluing him.
The Gypsy King was the heavy A-side going into his first Oleksandr Usyk clash, taking home around £80m from Saudi Arabia the undisputed loss.
Tyson Fury has announced his retirement from boxing for the fourth time[/caption]
Fans had been desperate to see Fury fight Anthony Joshua[/caption]
Turki Alalshikh has been bankrolling the Riyadh Season[/caption]
And he even had a shared split of the £180m Riyadh rematch where he was dominated again.
With the undefeated record and world titles well out of his grasp, Fury was getting involved in talks to finally face Anthony Joshua – perhaps twice – with London and Saudi legs that could generate around £500million.
But – just as 35-year-old AJ was lowering his guard and goading him on social media, with a post on Saturday night about being on the hunt for the unmissable 6ft 9in Traveller – Fury pulled the rug from under us all.
“I would like to announce my retirement from boxing,” he told his Instagram account from a car parked on his Morecambe drive.
“It has been a blast and I have loved every single minute of it.
“I’m going to end with this – Dirk Turpin wore a mask.”
A large chunk of boxing fans took the reference to the 18th century highwayman to be another dig at the Ukraine southpaw king.
But that’s old news and Fury has not needed cryptic messages to hide his rage at the gap-toothed genius he so generously labellled a “little rabbit sausage who could never beat me in a million years”.
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The phrase wasn’t used properly either.
The full phrase is: ‘at least Dick Turpin wore a mask’.
View of The Sun’s boxing expert: ‘I think it’s a ploy’
CALL ME a miserable fat little boxing cynic, but Tyson Fury’s latest retirement just doesn’t wash with me.
It wasn’t too long ago we were hearing he had a ten-fight deal with Saudi Arabia, that he was gonna fight Anthony Joshua twice, then he was going to face Joseph Parker twice.
He was planning on doing every fight in the world – there was even talk he’d rematch Francis Ngannou and do a better job.
IF he has retired, then he goes out with an incredible career having made over £300million in boxing events alone, let alone all the extra stuff.
He does so having sacrificed bundles of his own life for such success.
We know his wife Paris suffered a miscarriage going into the first Olesandr Usyk fight.
We know for Deontay Wilder III, his little girl was put in intensive care, he barely even trained for that fight, he was sleeping on the hospital floor.
IF he has retired, IF it is genuine, then it’s been an incredible career.
And for the big showman, it’s probably a nice little short sharp way to go out by just posting a video while sat inside his car.
But I can’t help but think that it’s a bit of a ploy to drive AJ a little bit crazy.
AJ was at the Ring Awards the other day and put out a social media post saying “Fury, where are you? I’m looking for you.”
It’s the only fight that AJ wants, and Fury being wise and looking at the Floyd Mayweather playbook, knows that once you retire, you have to be coaxed out of retirement.
And how do you coax someone out of retirement? Loads more readies.
The fact of the matter is, Fury has always told us: I’m a prize fighter, I do it for money, I’m gonna do it for as long as I can and make as much money as I can.
So the idea that he suddenly ducks out now doesn’t seem to ring quite true.
As Fury made the announcement, I was with Frank Warren and he said hadn’t spoken to Tyson about it today, but that he hopes that it’s true, that Fury’s done enough and made enough money.
IF it’s true, then what an incredible career.
Fury and AJ have put British boxing on the map where it’s not been for decades, not since Lennox Lewis 25 years ago.
So thank you, but rather than being at his leaving party, which I’m sure The Sun would be invited to, I suspect we’ll see him boxing AJ in Riyadh in a few months.
And it’s usually employed when someone has played the nice guy, been approachable, and then tried or succeeded in robbing their target.
Usyk never played the nice guy, he always terrorised Fury with maverick mind games, baffling footwork and a legendary lead right.
The former Crimea pickpocket looked Fury right in the eye, told him he was going to snatch away all of his ego and did so.
The Riyadh Season – bankrolled by Turki Alalshihk – is a different story.
They have made Fury richer than his wildest dreams, they handed him a doddle of a 2023 win against debutant Francis Ngannou.
And they supported him when he made a total flabby hash of it, got dropped by the MMA fighter, and needed a dodgy decision to keep the Usyk rivalry on course.
But now he’s on the back of two losses and holds no belts, it would make complete sense that his wages will have dropped.
If he’s received his ballpark AJ offer and been furious with the fee, or the percentage, then he isn’t the sort of man to quietly speak to his board members, he’s far more likely to leap in the VW Passat and roar another retirement speech.
The timing looks to lean that way too.
Would Fury aim an antiquated barb at Usyk four weeks after their fight – with utterly no provocation from the man he kissed and cuddled after their bouts?
Or would he lash out at a billion-pound nation-backed boxing empire that he feels he has suddenly short-changed him?
Dick Turpin wore a mask, but at least he also shot from the hip.
