Boxing great Tyson Fury has announced his retirement from the sport following consecutive defeats to unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Talk of either an Usyk trilogy or a fight against Anthony Joshua surrounded the immediate future of the ‘Gypsy King’, but the 36-year-old has instead opted to retire, putting an end to an iconic career.
“Hi everybody, I’m going to make this short and sweet,” said Fury in a video posted to Instagram.
“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.”
Fury went toe-to-toe with Usyk for the first time in Riyadh in May last year. He suffered his maiden professional defeat via split decision, a victory which granted the Ukrainian undisputed status.
Fury sought revenge on his heavyweight counterpart when the pair locked horns in a rematch in December, but Usyk again emerged victorious via unanimous decision.
The Englishman was frustrated by the scoring, having felt that he had done enough to win the rematch, saying Usyk received a “bit of a Christmas gift from the judges”.
And when pushed to reveal future plans following the Saudi Arabia showdown, Fury was non-committal.
“I’m having some time off,” he said. “I might do, I might not. Who knows? We’ll talk about that next year.”
The back-to-back defeats saw speculation mount over Fury’s next move, with a fight against fellow Briton Joshua hotly tipped for 2025.
Speaking at The Ring Magazine Awards last week, Joshua himself encouraged the bout, saying: “It has to happen this year.”
Fury initially announced he would retire in 2022 following victory over Dillian Whyte, but U-turned on the decision, returning to action to defeat Derek Chisora in December that year.
He then went on to defeat Francis Ngannou via split decision in October 2023, before taking on the Usyk double-header the following year.
Fury’s retirement brings an end to a glittering career in the ring, which saw him claim WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles after ending Wladimir Klitschko’s long-standing dominance in the heavyweight division with victory over the Ukrainian in 2015.
He would soon go on to vacate the titles as he temporarily stepped away from the sport – and he returned to the ring in 2018 with victory over Sefer Seferi.
Among his iconic fights, an epic trilogy with Deontay Wilder stands out. The pair fought out a thrilling draw in 2018, before Fury went on to claim back-to-back knockout victories over the American in 2020 and 2021.
Fury retired with an imperious record of 34 victories to just two defeats, both coming against Usyk. The Englishman retires having never suffered defeat via knockout.
