Tyson Fury vacates Ring magazine title after confirming retirement and belt will be on line in Joshua vs Usyk rematch
TYSON FURY has officially vacated Ring Magazine's heavyweight title following his latest retirement U-turn.
And the prestigious strap will be on the line as Anthony Joshua seeks revenge in his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday.
The Gypsy King announced on Friday that he'd decided against making a sensational return to the ring - a mere TWO DAYS after announcing plans to come out of retirement to face Derek Chisora.
And the Wythenshawe warrior appears to mean business as he's relinquished the prestigious Ring heavyweight strap.
He told them: “The Ring Magazine championship has always been the holy grail of boxing.
"They’ve been fantastic with me and I’ve always carried that title with pride.”
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Fury, 34, twice defended the famed Ring Magazine heavyweight strap - which he first claimed in February 2020 with a stunning win over the then-undefeated Deontay Wilder.
The Brit went on to defend it in a trilogy with Wilder and a Wembley war with Dillian Whyte.
Fury's intentions for the WBC heavyweight title, however, remain unclear, although he has held talks with the Mexican sanctioning body's president Mauricio Sulaiman.
Sulaiman said: "Just finished a touching video conference with Tyson Fury who has confirmed his official retirement from boxing.
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"We fully support his decision which is a dream for anyone to retire undefeated and as WBC champion of the world. WBC boxing will prepare a special farewell event soon."
Reflecting on his career, Fury: “The greatest moment of my career was winning the world championship back in 2015.
“There’s the great comeback after that with the three [Deontay] Wilder fights.
"There’s been a lot of great highlights in my career – even the Dillian Whyte fight in front of 94,000 at Wembley.
"It doesn’t get much bigger than that. And I went out with a bang.”
With fighting seemingly in the rearview mirror, Fury is looking forward to moving on to pastures new.
He said: “It was fun while it lasted. I had a good 14-year career.
"I actually boxed for 20 years, from 14 to 34 years old. I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed the ups and the downs.
"My career was an Indian summer that just kept giving.
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“I’ve done well out of boxing. The world is open to so many things now. I’m doing a Netflix documentary at the moment.
"I’m going to be recording an album soon. Who knows, you might even see me on the silver screen.”