Tyson Fury has announced his retirement from boxing, not for the first time in his career.
Last month, the 36-year-old suffered a second successive defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in their unified world heavyweight title showdown in Saudi Arabia.
With a trilogy out of the question, there has been clamour for Fury to square off against Anthony Joshua in what would inevitably be the most lucrative fight in the history of British boxing.
Instead, Fury has seemingly decided to hang up his gloves having prevailed in 34 of his 37 fights as a professional.
What has Fury had to say?
🚨 Tyson Fury has just announced his retirement from boxing 😮
— Boxing on TNT Sports (@boxingontnt) January 13, 2025
📹: @Tyson_Fury pic.twitter.com/AOiDJYA17V
Should Fury depart the sport, he leaves as a two-time heavyweight world champion, his first reign coming in 2015 when he dethroned Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf.
After taking time away to overcome mental health issues, Fury eventually returned to face Deontay Wilder, dramatically raising from the canvas during the closing minutes of the first of three fights against the hard-hitting American to earn a controversial draw when many observers believed that he deserved to win.
On the back of interim fights against Tom Schwartz and Otto Wallin to build his profile in the United States, Fury would twice stop Wilder in their following bouts.
Successful title defences came against Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora before he got off the canvas to edge out MMA star Francis Ngannou in a crossover boxing fight.
That set up the highly-anticipated showdowns with Usyk, the Ukrainian doing enough to get the verdict with the judges in their two captivating contests in 2024.
How has Hearn reacted?
🗣️ @EddieHearn reacts to the Tyson Fury retirement news... pic.twitter.com/lzAfgdPKUm
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) January 13, 2025
Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn - who represents Joshua - has questioned whether Fury has retired to bolster his position at the negotiating table ahead of any potential showdown with Joshua.
That will be a common opinion among the boxing fraternity when Fury is no stranger to making comebacks to the ring.
For now, however, the veteran has seemingly removed himself from the heavyweight landscape, the next notable clash being between IBF champion Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker on February 22.
Darren Plant
