Tyson Fury retires from boxing as former world heavyweight champion makes shock announcement

Tyson Fury has hung up his gloves, declaring an end to his boxing career weeks after a second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk. Taking to Instagram, the 36 year old shared a video saying, "Hi everybody. I'm gonna make this short and sweet. I'd like to announce my retirement from boxing."

He continued, "It's been a blast. I've loved every single minute of it. It's been a blast. Thanks to everyone who helped out along the way! Happy New Year. Jesus is King, now and forever."

Since sharing this life-changing decision just before 2pm, Fury has amplified his message by adding it to his story and pinning it prominently on his profile, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Despite previous retirements, this time around his resignation follows a stinging loss to Usyk, who secured a unanimous victory in their eagerly anticipated rematch last December. The Manchester fighter experienced a unanimous points loss just months after failing to claim the title of the division’s undisputed champion in another bout against Usyk.

Fury's recent announcement seems to extinguish any remaining hopes of a bout with Anthony Joshua, which would have been hailed as the most significant British boxing event ever. There was also recent chatter about a potential rematch with Wladimir Klitschko if the Ukrainian decided to come out of retirement.

The Gypsy King' hangs up his gloves with an impressive professional record of 34 victories from 37 bouts, 24 of which were knockouts. The only stains on his record are two defeats to Usyk last year and a draw with Deontay Wilder in 2018, whom Fury subsequently defeated twice in 2020 and 2021.