- Tyson Fury took to Instagram to make the announcement, this afternoon
- Fury had lost his last two fights, both to Oleksandr Usyk
- The former world heavyweight champion retires with a 34-2-1 record
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Tyson Fury has announced his retirement from boxing.
The former WBC and IBO heavyweight champion took to Instagram this afternoon to share the message with his 6m+ followers. It is an announcement that comes less than a month since Fury suffered only his second career loss, to Oleksandr Usyk, in Saudi Arabia.
Fury had been undefeated before he met Usyk for the first time last year, but was then beaten on points twice by the Ukrainian and now, having proved himself as one of the most dominant heavyweight boxers of all time, the Gypsy King appears to be calling it quits.
In a short video posted to Instagram, Fury said, “Hi everybody, I’m going to make this short and sweet. I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing. It’s been a blast, I’ve loved every single minute of it and I’m going to end with this – Dick Turpin wore a mask. God bless everybody. See you on the other side.”
Of course, this is not the first time Fury has declared that he is done with boxing. After his sixth round TKO victory over Dillian Whyte in 2022, Fury revealed in his post-fight interview that he was retiring, saying, “I’ve been in this game 20 years, I’m 34 in a few months. I said the third Wilder fight would be my last but I felt I owed the fans one last homecoming. This is definitely the end of the Gypsy King and I went out with a bang. Tonight was amazing but this is the end.”
Fury also relinquished his Ring Magazine title upon his 2022 retirement, but would return eight months later to defeat Derek Chisora, in the third meeting between the pair. He would follow this victory up with another against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, in 2023.
The casual nature of the announcement naturally leads to the suspicion that it could be part of some sort of strategy or publicity stunt ahead of securing a deal for another major fight. Whether that is a trilogy fight with Usyk or the major money, long awaited bout with Anthony Joshua, remains to be seen. For all we know, this is a legitimate announcement and the 36-year-old intends to keep his word. Although in the world of combat sports, retirements tend to be very flexible. Especially when there’s still a lot of money to be made.
Should Fury’s retirement be permanent, however, he will go down in history as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, defeating the likes of Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder (twice) and going 35 bouts unbeaten before Usyk stopped him in his tracks. Fury’s professional record currently stands at 34-2-1
