INTERVIEW: Tyson Fury serious for Klitschko

Alam Khan - Reporter 09:33 26/11/2015
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Ready for the big day: Tyson Fury.

    He may have dressed up as Batman in the build-up to his heavyweight title fight with Wladimir Klitschko, but Tyson Fury says he’s more like The Hulk when it comes to superheroes. Unflinching and unbeatable, and don’t make him angry – because you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. 

    And just as the comic character had two different personas, so does Fury. Controversial yet charismatic, his antics, arguments and outspoken views often leave him open to criticism and form unpopular public opinion. But, as Peter Fury, his trainer and uncle, says: “Someone has to be the bad guy – and no one has a key in his back.”

    Tyson admits himself: “I think I have led two lives. In boxing, even from my amateur days at 15, 16, I was this confident, outgoing character and said what I felt. Outside I’m very shy and reserved.

    “What the layman thinks of me, I don’t care. The criticism? From strangers? It’s sticks and stones. What I speak is the truth to what I believe. My own family know the real me, but apart from that no one knows the real me because I can wear a million faces.

    “I think you have to be two people. You have to be the family person at home, and then somebody for the cameras and for your sport or profession. People say the Batman thing at the press conference [in September] was mind games, disrespect, but no, it was just entertainment for those watching.

    “When I finish, I’d like to be remembered for being involved in good fights and being an entertainer. I’m enjoying this glory train at the moment. I don’t wish the fight was over, that I’m home and tucked up in bed with loads of money. I’m living my life for today. I have no hatred for my brothers or rivals. I have no enemies. We are all as bad as each other, all natural-born sinners.”

    The 6ft 9in Fury, who comes from a Traveller heritage and was named after Mike Tyson, has also been a natural-born thriller since following in the boxing footsteps of his father, John, and pursuing a childhood dream of being a world champion.

    Unbeaten in 24 fights, 18 of them knockouts, the Briton knows Saturday’s Dusseldorf date with Klitschko, the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO champion, is the biggest of his career.

    He grew up watching the Ukrainian, 39, dominate the heavyweight division, but Fury is confident he can end that reign and will be inspired by history to fulfil his ambition. None more so than in 1964 when Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, shocked champion Sonny Liston, or 2001 when Hasim Rahman deposed Lennox Lewis as ring king with a knockout. 

    “Beating Klitschko would send me down as a legend in this country because no one can beat the guy,” Fury tells Sport360. “He’s the big old ugly character that nobody can beat. And I’m likening myself to Muhammad Ali here, when he was Cassius Clay, taking on Sonny Liston; when he said the ‘big ugly bear’ that couldn’t be beat, I’m going to whup him.

    “That there is history and history does not tell lies. So it can be done. Growing up I used to watch Lennox Lewis beating guys on top. When I was 12, me and my cousin watched Lewis against Hasim Rahman the first time around. I had this feeling Lewis was going to get knocked out. I don’t know why, but I said I bet he gets beat – and boom.

    “I’m the underdog like Rahman was, and Ali was. But I think, Peter thinks, my dad thinks, my brothers, [promoter] Mick Hennessy thinks, this is going to be an easy fight for me against Klitschko. Are we deluded do you think?

    “If we think it’s going to be an easy fight against someone who has not lost for 11 years, we need our heads testing. But people who know boxing know this is going to be difficult for Wladimir. I’ve seen him rattled, he’s nervous, on edge, more tense than he’s ever been.

    “He’s got the hardest fight of his career near the end of his career. Klitschko is going to be retired after this fight. There is a rematch clause, but he didn’t go back for a return with Corrie Sanders or Ross Puritty.”

    Nearing the end: Klitschko.

    Despite Klitschko’s record of just three losses in 67 bouts, Fury is a believer. He has faith in God and his own ability. The 27-year-old, who has battled depression as well as opponents, was certainly tested last year. His wife Paris suffered a miscarriage, and the couple, who have two children, Venezuela and Prince, had two cars targeted by arsonists while they were away from home.

    Fury also lost his uncle Hughie, leading to the cancellation of a fight with Alexander Ustinov. Add to that a lucrative bout with David Haye was cancelled for a second time while injury delayed a showdown with Dereck Chisora.

    “It was a bad year,” he reflects. “I lost a child, I had to bury that child. I lost an uncle, I had to bury that uncle. We had fights cancelled, cars burnt, all sorts of stuff happened that year.

    “But God doesn’t send us trials and tribulations that we can’t overcome. It’s only a test. If I was a non-believer it would be hard, but it wasn’t. The arson on the cars, it’s a piece of tin. Who really cares? People dying, it’s only a sad thing if you’re not a believer. But I am and I know I will see all my dead relatives again. 

    “Anything that happens in life is only a hurdle along the road. I did think about quitting after the David Haye pull-outs. I felt we had trained hard, wasted all my money, that I had earned previously, on fights that didn’t happen. Who is going to pay me that back?

    “I did think of stopping for a while, but then I thought I would make all these idiots happy by quitting. They couldn’t beat me in the ring, but I would beat myself by pulling out and not fighting anymore. So I got my head back together and have never looked back since.

    “I love a test, a challenge and if I didn’t I wouldn’t be taking this fight. I would have opted to take on Deontay Wilder in an easier fight. But I’m not interested in fighting him yet. I want the No1 and that’s Klitschko. “It’s all about being the No1. My mentality is all or nothing, every single time.”

    With Wilder and Anthony Joshua on the scene, there is hope that the heavyweight division will become more competitive and exciting than during the successful era of Klitschko and retired brother Vitali.

    “That’s what is needed,” says Fury, who has set up a Team Fury gym in conjunction with Asif Vali’s Platinum Sports and Events Management Company in Bolton to help develop future boxers. “People are bored of Klitschko. He’s a super-champion, but I want to be a super-champion, and we all have our flaws no matter who we are. 

    “As good as say Floyd Mayweather is, or was, there’s men out there who have tested him and he’s had lucky decisions. The Oscar De La Hoya fight being one of them. Everyone’s got weaknesses and it’s just a case of finding them.

    “I don’t want this fight to be over quickly, hit him one time, spark him out and it’s over. That would be all well and good, but people would say it was a lucky punch. I want to box, I want to entertain. I’m not scared of him and I won’t hide. I don’t fear a man with a pair of boxing gloves on. This is the fight I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid, the one I’ve been gunning for in the last five years.”

    He adds: “The day I don’t believe I can do something is the day I will never do it again, the day I stop boxing. Klitschko has finally given me my shot which I didn’t believe he ever would. But I want my own legacy and know if I’m going to be world champion it will be now. You are going to see something good after this fight if I win…and I will.”

    Recommended