TY AND DRY
Tyson Fury giving up eye-watering payday by retiring before Anthony Joshua fight after Wembley is booked for Brit battle
Fury would be in line for the biggest payday of his career
TYSON FURY will give up a mega payday from his long-awaited fight against Anthony Joshua if he truly retires from boxing.
The Gypsy King, 36, announced his retirement from boxing earlier today following back-to-back defeats against Oleksandr Usyk, with the second coming last month.
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Fury announced the news in a bombshell Instagram post, saying: "Hey everybody, I am going to make it short and sweet. I would like to announce my retirement from boxing.
"It has been a blast and I have loved every single minute of it. I'm going to end with this - Dick Turpin wore a mask. God bless everybody and see you on the other side."
Fury had been backed for a blockbuster Battle of Britain clash with Joshua in the summer.
However, his retirement would see him forgo the huge payday which would accompany it, which would possibly be his biggest earner ever.
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His first undisputed title fight with Usyk landed Fury a cool £85million, while the rematch saw him earn £90m.
Yet SunSport understands a two fight deal with AJ would be worth around £500m, meaning Fury is effectively giving up a staggering £250m pay cheque by retiring.
Following Joshua's defeat to Daniel Dubois earlier this year, Fury blasted that AJ "cost him £150m".
Yet following Eddie Hearn's revelation that he had booked out Wembley for the long-awaited Fury v AJ showdown, it seems the fight purse has risen even higher.
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Speaking on the potential fight, Hearn told : "Yes. We're looking to get back in the ring in May or June. If it ended up being July, it doesn't really matter.
"I still think it rests on Tyson Fury. Until the water settles on the defeat and where he's at mentally and what he wants to do, that's where we're really going to find out.
View of The Sun's boxing expert: 'I think it's a ploy'
CALL ME a miserable fat little boxing cynic, but Tyson Fury's latest retirement just doesn't wash with me.
It wasn't too long ago we were hearing he had a ten-fight deal with Saudi Arabia, that he was gonna fight Anthony Joshua twice, then he was going to face Joseph Parker twice.
He was planning on doing every fight in the world - there was even talk he'd rematch Francis Ngannou and do a better job.
IF he has retired, then he goes out with an incredible career having made over £300million in boxing events alone, let alone all the extra stuff.
He does so having sacrificed bundles of his own life for such success.
We know his wife Paris suffered a miscarriage going into the first Olesandr Usyk fight.
We know for Deontay Wilder III, his little girl was put in intensive care, he barely even trained for that fight, he was sleeping on the hospital floor.
IF he has retired, IF it is genuine, then it's been an incredible career.
And for the big showman, it's probably a nice little short sharp way to go out by just posting a video while sat inside his car.
But I can't help but think that it's a bit of a ploy to drive AJ a little bit crazy.
AJ was at the Ring Awards the other day and put out a social media post saying "Fury, where are you? I'm looking for you."
It's the only fight that AJ wants, and Fury being wise and looking at the Floyd Mayweather playbook, knows that once you retire, you have to be coaxed out of retirement.
And how do you coax someone out of retirement? Loads more readies.
The fact of the matter is, Fury has always told us: I'm a prize fighter, I do it for money, I'm gonna do it for as long as I can and make as much money as I can.
So the idea that he suddenly ducks out now doesn't seem to ring quite true.
As Fury made the announcement, I was with Frank Warren and he said hadn't spoken to Tyson about it today, but that he hopes that it's true, that Fury's done enough and made enough money.
IF it's true, then what an incredible career.
Fury and AJ have put British boxing on the map where it's not been for decades, not since Lennox Lewis 25 years ago.
So thank you, but rather than being at his leaving party, which I'm sure The Sun would be invited to, I suspect we'll see him boxing AJ in Riyadh in a few months.
Tyson Fury retires from boxing with cryptic 'Dick Turpin wore a mask' jibe to leave Anthony Joshua fight dead in water
"Because when he looks at the options, what else is he going to do and who else is he going to fight?"
The news of retirement also caught his promoter, Frank Warren, by surprise.
Giving his immediate reaction to SunSport, he said: "This is the first I've heard of it. I haven't spoken to him today but God bless him.
"He's earned more money than he could spend if he lived to be 1,000-years-old.
"He's won every belt he ever wanted to win and he couldn't have done any more for the sport, for himself or for British boxing.
We wish him the absolute best.
"When I did speak to him I told him to take your time, relax, recover, don't rush into any decisions and if this is the one he's made he has our support and gratitude."
Despite the declaration, Fury has come back out of retirement before.
His first came 12 years ago when he grew frustrated when a fight with David Haye fell through, but returned to fight again and become world champion with a win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
He then took a three-year break from the sport between 2015 and 2018, announcing he was quitting in 2017 for good.
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Then, following his win over Dillian Whyte in 2022, Fury retired again before deciding to make a comeback against Derek Chisora just six months later.
This means there is not a 100 per cent guarantee Fury won't return to the ring again, especially with huge bout against Joshua and a huge payday waiting in the wings.
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