Tyson Fury announced his retirement from boxing with a cryptic message on social media that has left some fans scratching their heads.
The 36-year-old British heavyweight posted a brief video on Instagram on Monday in which he said: “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.”
So who is Dick Turpin and what could Fury be referencing with his mysterious sign-off?
Who is Dick Turpin?
Richard “Dick” Turpin is perhaps the country’s most infamous highwayman – a criminal, typically on horseback, who held up travellers at gunpoint in order to rob them.
Turpin and his fellow highwaymen committed a series of high-profile robberies between 1735 and 1737, leading to a bounty being put on his head.
He changed his identity, but was found, arrested and imprisoned in the Yorkshire town of Beverley in 1738.
Turpin was then found guilty of the theft of three horses and executed on 7 April 1739, at the age of 33.
But while notorious in his time, his infamy only grew after his death.
His life was romanticised in stories and plays in the late 18th and 19th centuries by writers, including Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth, who wrote fictional stories about Turpin and his horse Black Bess.
What does the phrase mean?
Fury appears to have slightly shortened the common phrase: “At least Dick Turpin wore a mask.”
It is often used as a dour witticism when someone feels they are being ripped off.
Essentially, the person using the phrase is saying Turpin tried to conceal his identity when he robbed people, whereas the person they are accusing of doing so is attempting to in plain sight.
What could Fury be referencing?
Fury, nor his team, have shed any further light on what, or who, the boxer was making reference to with his comments.
That has led some people, both in the media, and on social media, to speculate.
One suggestion is that Fury may have been referencing talks about a potential fight with fellow British boxing heavyweight Anthony Joshua.
A clash between the pair has long been teased, and Fury’s retirement announcement came just two days after Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn revealed Wembley had been reserved for the fight to finally take place in the summer.
But Hearn has claimed he doesn’t think the comment related to that, claiming negotiations had not yet even begun.
“On the one hand it could mean, ‘I’ve made a fortune, see you later, I’m off,'” Hearn told Sky Sports.
“On the other hand, it could mean you feel like someone’s turned you over. There’s been no negotiations from our side.
“The only conversation we’ve had with [promoter] Frank Warren and [Fury’s manager] Spencer Brown is when the time is right, let’s have a chat. That’s it.
“Everybody wants the fight, it’s the biggest fight in boxing. I don’t know what that [Turpin comment] refers to.”
Others have suggested Fury was referring to his second loss to Oleksandr Usyk last month, in which all three judges scored the fight 116-112 in Usyk’s favour.
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Fury was clear he felt he had won the fight, saying after the decision: “I swear to God, I thought I won it by at least three rounds” and “I will always believe until the day I die that I won that fight.”
After his retirement announcement, Brad Jacobs, COO at Top Rank and Fury’s co-promoter, told Sky Sports: “Only Tyson knows what he meant by that.
“The only takeaway I have is he probably thought he was robbed in the Usyk fight.”
Is Fury really retiring?
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The inclusion of the Turpin message – mixed with the fact Fury had already announced his retirement three times – has led some to question whether he is really hanging up the gloves for good this time.
Sky Sports News’ Ben Ransom said: “Very cryptic and typical Tyson Fury.
“Not the first time we’ve heard him make a similar statement about retiring. Rewind the clock to 2022 after he’d just beaten Dilian Whyte, and he said that that was it, he was done and ready to ride off into the sunset.
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“And then he was tempted back, shall we say, to fight Derek Chisora and then ultimately it led him on a path towards the opportunity of being undisputed heavyweight king.
“So I think we can take it with a slight pinch of salt, just given that previous.
“I think the cryptic message about Dick Turpin wearing a mask is the bit that maybe makes me think there’s more going on than he’s letting slip at the moment.”
