Tyson Fury surprised the boxing world by announcing his retirement from the sport on Monday and he did so with a interesting flourish.
The Gypsy King has lost his last two fights, both to Oleksandr Usyk, and he appears to have hung up his gloves after posting a video on Instagram.
Whether he actually does retire is yet to be seen, as he has made this claim before only to fight again, but another comment in the video added some intrigue as Fury said: ‘Dick Turpin wore a mask.’
Fury said in the social media post: ”Hi everybody, I’m going to make this short and sweet. ‘I would like to announce my retirement from boxing. 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. Get up!’
What could Tyson Fury mean by his ‘Dick Turpin wore a mask’ comment?
Turpin was a famous highwayman in the first half of the 18th century, executed in 1739 at the age of just 33.
A masked robber and killer, Turpin’s name has lived on in history and been romanticised thanks to works such as William Harrison Ainsworth’s 1834 book Rookwood, in which Turpin was the leading character.
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The phrase ‘Dick Turpin wore a mask’ is used to state that the highwayman tried to conceal his identity, while suggesting that others have not done so while committing their wrongdoings.
What Fury is referring to is up for debate, but he is most likely suggesting that he was robbed in one or even both of his fights with Usyk.
The Brit was beaten by the Ukrainian by split decision in May and then by unanimous decision in December.
After both fights Fury made it clear that he thought he had won, although there was little suggestion of robbery from anywhere outside the Fury camp.
After the December loss in Riyadh, Fury said: ‘It is what it is, I am not going to cry over spilt milk, it has happened now. I have been in boxing all my life and you can’t change any decision, but I will always feel hard done by.
‘When you don’t get a knockout, you can’t guarantee a win. I think I won both fights. There is no doubt in my mind I won this fight. I think Usyk got a Christmas gift but it’s not Oleksandr’s fault.’
He added: ‘I was quite confident. I thought I won that fight again … I thought I’ve won both fights. But then again, I’ve gone home with two losses on my record now, so there’s not much I can do about it.
‘I can just fight my heart out and do the best I can, but again, I’ll always believe until a day I die, I won that fight.’
Fury had been linked with a bout with Anthony Joshua this year, with AJ telling SportsBoom: ‘I’ve been involved in a whole lot of fights, but this has to happen in 2025. Of course, it has to happen, and hopefully it does happen.’
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, believes Fury’s retirement announcement is just an attempt to negotiate more money for the all-British scrap.
Hearn told iFL TV: ‘I saw that coming, yeah. I saw that coming. If you ever want to come back and get the max, you have to retire first, haven’t you? Someone then has to bring you out of retirement.
‘If that’s the last we see of Tyson Fury then good luck to him. I doubt it personally but whatever he chooses to do, much respect to him.
‘I think he’ll want to fight again, I think he will get bored and he will know the British public want to see the AJ fight.
‘My personal belief if we’ll see him in the ring again.’