Tyson Fury could have entered retirement because he is feeling the "pressure" surrounding a blockbuster fight against Anthony Joshua, says promoter Eddie Hearn.
A month on from his second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, Fury posted a cryptic video on social media in which he claimed to have hung up his boxing gloves for good.
"Hi everybody, I'm going to make this short and sweet," Fury said. "I'd 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. God bless everybody, see you on the other side."
Promoter Hearn had revealed at the weekend that a date had been reserved at Wembley Stadium for a Fury-Joshua fight and questioned whether Fury still had the desire to face his big-punching British rival.
"It's frustrating but you wouldn't want to be fighting Anthony Joshua if you didn't have the love for the sport anymore," Hearn, who promotes Joshua, told Sky Sports.
"Maybe Tyson feels like his time is up. Joshua has been calling Fury out and maybe he didn't want the pressure to make a decision to be piled on.
"I'd be very surprised if Fury left this fight on the table. I don't know him well enough to give you the answers but if the love is gone, it's time to go."
Fury has made a U-turn on retirement decisions before in his eventful career and Hearn is unsure whether the 36-year-old is genuinely quitting the sport.
"Disappointing, of course, for British fight and sports fans because I felt now was the time to make that [Joshua] fight quite easily but if the fight has been punched out of him, if his heart's not in it anymore, it's a dangerous sport and it's time to get out.
"The cynic in me will always believe it's a negotiation tactic but perhaps it's not, and if it's not, we wish him all the best."
But Frank Warren, Fury's promoter, insisted the former world champion exits boxing with his blessing.
Warren: Fury doesn't have anything to prove
"Good luck to him, God bless him. I'm thrilled for him," Warren told Sky Sports. "I've been saying since his last fight, whatever he chooses to do I support him 100 per cent.
"He's done unbelievably great things for British boxing, world boxing. He's been involved in some of the most exciting fights, certainly in the second coming it's been exciting fights, every one of them.
"I'm delighted for them. I hope he and his family enjoy the fruits of his labour.
"Talk about excitement in rings, in press conferences, he's the best and I hope people acknowledge that now."
Asked whether fighting Joshua could tempt Fury out of retirement, Warren replied: "It's up to him. If he wants to, he will. If he doesn't, he doesn't. He doesn't have to prove anything to anybody."
Hearn has suggested that Joshua could instead face the winner when Daniel Dubois defends his IBF title against Joseph Parker in Saudi Arabia on February 22.
Joshua was knocked out by Dubois at Wembley Stadium in September, while he has also fought Parker before, outpointing the New Zealander in a unification clash in Cardiff in 2018.
Nelson: Fury is 'boy that cried wolf'
Sky Sports Boxing's Johnny Nelson:
"The boy that cried wolf and maybe today Tyson believes that's what is coming from his heart and soul. He will listen to the comments but because he's done it before and you think about what is on the table now, why would you do that right now?
"As long as that fight with AJ's out there, I don't believe that. Who knows? Do you think Tyson has quit? He's quit in his head today but tomorrow it's a different story. I don't believe him.
"So if you listen to the remarks of Frank and Eddie, it just reminds me of parents when you're a young child and you say, 'you're leaving home, I'm running away' and your mum and dad said, 'yeah, go on then', because they know they don't have to deal with you.
"So maybe Frank is actually thinking, 'you know what? This is him today. I get it. I'm going to go with you but the door's still open'.
"I just don't believe it because there's too much of a lucrative opportunity out there still for him with Anthony Joshua."
