Tyson Fury has chosen his 34th birthday to announce his latest retirement from boxing having previously performed a number of U-turns over his future in the sport.
Fury, who still holds the WBC world heavyweight title, was expected to fight the winner of Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch with Anthony Joshua that takes place on Saturday week.
Instead Fury has confirmed his gloves will remain hung up.
He tweeted: "Massive thanks to everyone who had an input in my career over the years and after long hard conversations I’ve finally decided to walk away and on my 34th birthday I say Bon voyage."
Fury has familial links to Powys with several family members immortalised by monuments in the hills above Middletown on the Powys-Shropshire border.
The monument at Moel Y Golfa in Middletown. Picture: Geograph.
Few may have heard of Ernest Burton who was Fury's great-grandfather as well as A Romani chief.
As his culture dictated, Ernest spent much of his life travelling across Britain and Ireland but he was born in Wales and developed a great love for the Breidden hills and passed on his wishes for his ashes to be spread over them after his death in 1960.
These wishes were honoured by his son Uriah who hired a plane to scatter the ashes on the hills.
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Three years later the family erected the 25 ton granite memorial at the summit of Moel y Golfa
Afterwards his sons, Uriah and Hosiah, carried on their father's legacy as a bare knuckle fighter and Uriah became known as the 'King of Gypsies'.
His fighting prowess was inherited by his grandsons, British light heavyweight champion Hosea Burton and former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
The monument at Moel Y Golfa in Middletown. Picture: Geograph.
Their grandfather left an impressive legacy: a plaque on the monument notes that he was undefeated from the age of five.
Land for the monument was obtained through donation, but contractors stated that the proposed structure was unfeasible.
Undeterred, the Burton's decided to do it themselves, with others’ assistance, and the granite blocks were shipped from Devonshire.
However, when construction began many who had promised to help failed to come.
The brothers reportedly found the truants, taking a bus throughout Britain and driving them to Wales.
Once in Wales, the workers were housed and provided with food and drink. The Burtons even offered remuneration, an offer most refused.
Ultimately the monument was completed: a dozen feet of granite with an inscription near its top commemorating Ernest and his wife Dora.
This was not the end of construction, however, as after Uriah’s death in 1986 a plaque was added memorialising his life, fighting prowess, and character: ‘a true legend in his own time … known and respected by all Gypsies and creeds’.
The stones on Moel y Golfa therefore serve as a memorial to two generations of Romani leaders.
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