Tyson Fury has announced his retirement from boxing after back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk.
The 36-year-old was beaten by Usyk for a second time in December, but suggested after that bout that he had little intention of retiring.
Earlier this week, Anthony Joshua declared a fight with Fury “had to happen” this year, with Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh making it clear he wanted to make the all-British showdown.
However, hopes of Joshua and Fury finally meeting in the ring appear to now be over, after ‘The Gypsy King’ took to social media to say he is walking away from the sport. He included a cryptic reference to Dick Turpin in the brief video.
“Hi everybody, I’m going to make this short and sweet,” said Fury, who also announced he was retiring in 2022.
“I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing. It’s been a blast, I’ve loved every single minute of it.
“I’m going to end with this - Dick Turpin wore a mask. God bless everybody, see you on the other side.”
Should Fury walk away as he suggests, he will hang up the gloves with a 34-1-2 professional record, leaving Usyk as the only fighter to get the better of him.
The Briton climbed to the summit of the sport in 2015 with a famous world-title victory over Wladimir Klitschko in Germany, but then spend nearly three years out of the ring.
During that period, in which he battled mental health and drug issues, Fury accepted a backdated two-year ban from UK Anti-Doping, after testing positive for a "prohibited substance" that he claimed was due to eating wild boar.
He returned to beat Sefer Seferi in 2018, six months before the first of three epic fights with Deontay Wilder. The first of those was controversially scored a draw, with Fury unfortunate not to win, but he claimed the WBC title by beating the American in 2020 and won the trilogy bout a year later.
Fury has previously claimed he was “robbed” in the Usyk rematch last month, after all three judges scored it in 116-112 in favour of Usyk, who defended his WBA (Super), WBC and WBO world titles.
His retirement announcement comes as a surprise, after progress appeared to be made in attempts to reach an agreement for a long-awaited clash between Fury and Joshua.
Promoter Eddie Hearn revealed Wembley Stadium had been reserved for this summer to stage what would have been billed as the biggest fight in British boxing history.
This is not the first time Fury has said he is retiring. He announced he was “done” with boxing after beating Dillian Whyte in 2022, only to return at the end of the year to fight Derek Chisora.
After beating Whyte, Fury said: "I am done. Every good dog has its day. Like the great Roman leader said, there will always be someone else to fight. When is enough, enough?
"I am happy, I am healthy. I still have my brains, I can talk, I have a beautiful wife, I have six kids, umpteen belts.
"I have plenty of money, success, fame, glory, what more am I doing it for?"
