Jennifer Cartwright
Former world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury has announced that he has retired from boxing.
In a short video uploaded to Instagram, the 36-year-old told fans: “It’s been a blast, I’ve loved every minute of it” as he declared his departure from the ring.
Recent Setbacks
Fury included a cryptic message in his announcement as he said: “I’m gonna end with this: Dick Turpin wore a mask” while pointing at the camera.
Some speculate this comment alludes to feeling robbed by his recent loss against WBC, WBA, and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk in December 2024. Ukrainian boxer Usyk beat Fury by unanimous decision in Riyadh after boxing Fury for twelve rounds. Usyk had previously beaten Fury by a split decision back in May. These have been the only two losses of the ‘Gypsy King’s’ 16-year career.
Fury’s History
Fury’s recent announcement is not the first time he has claimed to be retiring from boxing.
His first retirement came 11 years ago in 2013 after David Haye postponed and then pulled out of their highly anticipated match at Manchester Arena due to injuries. Fury tweeted: “Hi every1 I have officially retired from boxing. There’s to [sic] many bent people in the sport”. Though reaffirming the next day that he’ll “never fight again”, Fury returned to the ring three months later for a match against Joey Abell.
After a string of successes and becoming World Champion in 2015, after beating Wladimir Klitschko, Fury decided to retire again in 2016 for mental health reasons.
Following this retirement, it was revealed that UK Anti-Doping had suspended the champion and his cousin Hughie Fury due to both testing positive for nandrolone metabolites, a banned anabolic steroid, following fights in February 2015.
Both fighters strongly denied the allegations and claimed that they had ingested the substance by eating uncastrated wild boar. Following a year-long investigation that cost UKAD over £500,000, a settlement was made. Both Fury cousins were banned from boxing for two years and their results from their fights in February 2015 were disqualified.
In 2018, the British Boxing Board of Control reinstated Fury’s boxing license and he returned to the ring and defeated Sefer Seferi in his first match. Fury continued to fight for four years but after beating Dillian Whyte to retain his WBC title in April 2022, Fury decided to hang up his gloves once more declaring: “I have fulfilled everything I’ve ever wanted to fulfil”. Just a few months later, Fury made a U-turn by announcing a trilogy fight against Derek Chisora who he beat in December of that same year.
Fury’s TV debut
In 2023, a Netflix series ‘At Home With the Furys‘ focused on the heavyweight becoming more family-oriented following his third retirement. However, mid-way through the series, Fury decided to end his retirement following the sudden death of his cousin. Speaking in front of 1,500 people at the House of Son Amar in Mallorca, Fury said retirement had given him “a lot of time to be a father, be a husband, be a son” but the unexpected passing of his cousin Rico Burton to knife crime had been a “real eye opener” to how short life is.
The fly-on-the-wall series also interrogated the impact of quitting boxing on Fury’s mental health. When he announced he would return to the ring mid-series, much to the surprise of his family, he told cameras that boxing “is the only thing I can do and without it I’m lost”.
What Happens Now?
Having retired multiple times, many boxers past and present are unsure how long Fury’s latest retirement will be. Northern Irish former professional boxer Carl Frampton commented: “I don’t really believe him to be honest. He’s probably retired at least three times now. I think we might see him back.” Meanwhile, British former professional boxer Tony Bellew speculated the new retirement is “a bargaining tool” for a future fight against fellow Brit Anthony Joshua. Joshua himself recently said that a fight against Fury “has to happen this year”.
Even Fury’s manager Spencer Brown expressed his surprise at the news, admitting he was only informed after the video was posted.
On Fury’s future Brown speculates: “He might go into films. He might be a wrestler. Who knows what he’s going to do? You never know with Tyson Fury.”
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Featured image courtesy of Mick Baker on Flickr. No changes have been made to this image. Image license found here.
