BOXING legend Tyson Fury has retired from boxing.
The Gypsy King hangs up his gloves after a second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk last month.
Tyson Fury has quit boxing[/caption]
Fury, 36, announced the news in a bombshell Instagram post, saying: “Hey everybody, I am going to make it short and sweet. I would like to announce my retirement from boxing.
“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.
“God bless everybody and see you on the other side.”
Dick Turpin was an infamous highway man from the 1700s and it is unclear why Fury referenced him in his farewell.
The heavyweight legend’s promoter Frank Warren gave his immediate reaction to SunSport, saying: “This is the first I’ve heard of it. I haven’t spoken to him today but God bless him.
“He’s earned more money than he could spend if he lived to be 1,000-years-old.
“He’s won every belt he ever wanted to win and he couldn’t have done any more for the sport, for himself or for British boxing.
We wish him the absolute best.
“When I did speak to him I told him to take your time, relax, recover, don’t rush into any decisions and if this is the one he’s made he has our support and gratitude.”
Fury had been tipped to fight Anthony Joshua next in a highly-anticipated all-British clash, but his announcement means the bout is now off.
His career ends on 34 wins, one draw and two defeats and he has been a multiple heavyweight champion, having lifted the WBO, WBC, IBF, IBO and The Ring belts.
Fury first rose to popularity by beating Derek Chisora in 2011 to claim the British and Commonwealth titles.
Three years later, it was Chisora again on the receiving end when he claimed the European, WBO International and British heavyweight titles.
The win set Fury up for a shot at becoming the unified world champion against Wladimir Kitschko in 2015 and he was victorious via a unanimous decision after 12 rounds.
He said after the win it was a “dream come true” and he subsequently then took a three year break from the sport, with many assuming his career was done and dusted.
Fury struggled without boxing, seeing his weight rise to 24 stone and his mental health deteriorated.
The Manchester-born star battled depression, bipolar disorder, drugs and booze, as well as coming under investigation for doping after testing positive for a banned steroid.
But Fury was not down and out yet, making a sensational comeback to the ring in 2018 as he cited his new-found motivation on beating rival Deontay Wilder.
The first bout in their iconic trilogy ended in a draw and a rematch followed a year-and-a-half later as Fury won by a seventh round technical knockout.
Wilder exercised a third clash in 2021 and the dust-up was one of the greatest fights in boxing history.
Both men ended up on the canvas in the early rounds, with Fury somehow rebounding to his feet and producing an iconic knockout in the eleventh round.
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 10 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 3, 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.
Fury since went on to beat Dillian Whyte, Chisora again and Francis Ngannou.
His wins set up a clash with Usyk in May to become the first undisputed heavyweight champ since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
Usyk won a thriller by split decision to claim the WBC, WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles.
The Ukrainian then saw off a battling Fury again in December in another mega-money Saudi Arabian clash.
This time it was Usyk via a unanimous decision to retain his belts and anger Fury, who claimed he had done enough to win.
Fury has now quit boxing, however, he does have a history of not sticking to his retirement plans.
Not his first retirement…
THIS isn’t the first time Tyson Fury has retired.
His first came 12 YEARS ago, when in 2013 he grew frustrated when a fight with David Haye fell through.
He declared at the time: “Hi everyone, I have officially retired from boxing. There’s too many bent [crooked] people in the sport. They will have to f*** someone else. Goodbye boxing.”
Then, he took a three-year break from the sport between 2015 and 2018, during which many didn’t expect to see him again.
In 2022 he retired TWICE.
Speaking in the ring after defeating Dillian Whyte at Wembley with a sixth-round finish, he revealed he’d made a promise to wife Paris.
He stated: “I’m a two-time undisputed world champion. [I have] £150million in the bank and nothing to prove to anybody.”
Later in the year, he stated his plan to “100 per cent” return to the ring.
But then just four days later he posted on X that he was quitting again.
He posted: “Massive thanks to everyone who had an input in my career over the years & after long hard conversations I’ve finally decided to walk away & on my 34th birthday I say Bon voyage.”
It means there will be serious doubts that his latest declaration truly means we’ll never see him in the ring again.