British heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury announces retirement one month after Usyk defeat

LONDON — British heavyweight Tyson Fury has retired from boxing — again — one month after losing a rematch with Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk.

The 36-year-old Fury announced the decision in a short video posted on his Instagram account on Monday, which included a cryptic message.

“Hi everybody, I’m going to make this short and sweet. I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing,” Fury said. “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.”

It was unclear why Fury made a reference to Turpin, a famed 18th century English highway robber and horse thief.

Fury was upset with the unanimous decision when he lost the Dec. 21 rematch with Usyk in Saudi Arabia. However, Usyk landed 179 of 423 punches thrown (42%), while Fury landed 144 of his 509 punches, a 28% clip.

Fury had acknowledged making mistakes, notably by showboating too much, when losing their first fight in Riyadh in May by a split decision.

British boxing fans had been hoping that Fury would next fight countryman Anthony Joshua, a bout that has been talked about for years but now looks unlikely to happen.

Fury has announced his retirement before, however, notably on his 34th birthday in August 2022.

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But he was back fighting again two months later.

In April of that same year, the self-styled “Gypsy King” had already suggested he would retire earlier after knocking out Dillian Whyte with a brutal uppercut in front of more than 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium.

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But he never did and won two more fights, against Derek Chisora and Francis Ngannou — an MMA fighter making his boxing debut — before finally meeting his match in Usyk.

Fury’s record is 34-2-1, with 24 KOs.

The losses to Usyk were the only defeats in Fury’s career, which began in 2008 and included one draw against American boxer Deontay Wilder in 2018.

After winning Ring magazine’s Male Fighter of the Year award recently, Usyk thanked Fury in his own humorous way. The two became friends and spoke of their mutual respect.

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“My friend, greedy belly, thank you so much, you (are) great my opponent,” Usyk said, raising a clenched right fist.

Boxing promoter Frank Warren, who worked with Fury, told the BBC that he had not spoken to Fury prior to his retirement announcement.

“If that’s what he wants to do, that’s great. He’s done everything he can do. Probably been the best British heavyweight of his generation by far,” Warren told BBC radio. “Two-time world champion, two closely fought fights against Usyk. He’s got plenty of money, got his wits about him, got a lovely family.”