By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Former heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury has announced his retirement from boxing after back-to-back defeats to WBA (Super), WBC and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The 36-year-old previously announced his retirement after beating Dillian Whyte in April 2022 but returned six months later.
The Briton enjoyed two stints as heavyweight champion and retires with a record of 34 wins, two defeats and one draw.
“Hi everybody, I’m going to make this short and sweet,” Fury said.
“I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing, it has 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, I’ll see you on the other side.”
Fury referred to the notorious thief Turpin, who wore a mask in an attempt to conceal his identity during his crimes.
The Briton shocked long-reigning world champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to win the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles.
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 Anthony 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.