TYSON FURY HAS once again claimed he has retired from boxing in a video post on social media.

The 36-year-old former world heavyweight champion lost for the second successive time on a narrow margin to current title holder Oleksandr Usyk last month in Saudi Arabia.

Fury said in a video message posted on Instagram: “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”, Fury added, “and I’m going to end with this: ‘Dick Turpin wore a mask’.

“God bless everybody, see you on the other side.”

Turpin was an English Highwayman in the 1700s whose story grew legs following his execution in York for horse theft.

Fury’s invocation of Turpin is likely a shot at the judges who awarded his rematch with Usyk to the Ukrainian, the insinuation being that Turpin at least tried to conceal his identity when carrying out a robbery.

Fury had said he had no intention of retiring after that unanimous-decision defeat in December – his second loss to the Ukrainian, who beat the Lancashire man by split decision at the same Riyadh venue the previous May.

Boxing fans had been hoping Fury would finally fight fellow British heavyweight Anthony Joshua this year. His current retirement will likely drive up his fee to participate in such a domestic superfight should negotiations ever take place.

Fury previously announced his intention to quit the sport after he had retained his WBC belt by stopping Dillian Whyte at Wembley in 2022.

The ‘Gypsy King’ said at the time: “I’ve been in this game 20 years, I’m 34 in a few months.

“I said the third (Deontay) Wilder fight would be my last, but I felt I owed the fans one last homecoming. This is definitely the end of the Gypsy King and I went out with a bang.”

Fury also retired in both 2013 and in 2017, similarly announcing it on social media.