Tyson Fury made headlines this week by taking to social media to announce his retirement from boxing. Though it isn’t the first time the big man from Morecambe has done so, if he sticks to it fans will miss out on a blockbuster clash against Anthony Joshua.

Fury’s 2024 consisted of two back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk, both of which he believes he did enough to win. Usyk became undisputed with the first victory, a split decision, and, having vacated one belt afterwards, retained his unified titles in the rematch unanimously on the cards.

‘The Gypsy King’ was immediately linked to a long-awaited fight with Joshua given that the latter is also coming off a loss, his by knockout at the hands of Daniel Dubois.

Despite the chance at a mega payday and to be involved in a main event fans have demanded for some years, ‘The Gypsy King’ instead announced that he was hanging up the gloves.

“Hi everybody. I’m going to make this short and sweet. I’d 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.”

Turki Alalshikh of Riyadh Season and The Ring Magazine had listed the battle of Britain as one of the fights he wanted to make happen this year.

Speaking to TalkSPORT, Alalshikh said he respected Fury’s decision but ‘as a fan’ wishes that it wasn’t the case.

“First of all, this kind of decision must be from the fighters. Of course, as a fan of boxing, I don’t like it. We want to see Tyson in more big fights, but I can understand his situation. You don’t know, this kind of decision can be changed by time… I will support him and discuss it with him. I will leave him for some time to be with his family, then we can discuss it.”

Many in the sport feel Fury may be using his status as a bargaining chip in negotiations with ‘AJ’s side. Only time will tell.