Named after one of the most controversial, feared and face-crunching boxers of all time, Tyson Fury was somewhat destined to have a career filled with memorable moments or mayhem.
At 6ft 9in (2.06m) tall and packing 18 stone (114kg), a towering, hulking presence does not allow him to blend unassumingly into the background.
And like former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, and his footballing hero Eric Cantona – supreme sportsmen yet volatile characters – he has already displayed a combination of talent yet troubled soul in trying to create his own story.
Unsavoury headlines followed the 25-yearold over expletive-laden tweets, bust-ups and when he threw a table over and stormed out of a press conference to promote his forthcoming fight, a world title eliminator, with fellow Briton Dereck Chisora on Saturday, July 26 at the Manchester Arena.
“I believe I deserve all the criticism I get,” he says bluntly. “I don’t care what people say or think about me. To me I can dish it out as well as take it.
“Eric Cantona was in the papers for all sorts of crazy stuff, but he was being himself. I think every sportsman should be himself and not what people want you to be.
“What I’ve done in the past can never be denied. It happened and people can have their opinion and rank me with everyone else, but I can only do what I can do. Every man has to bear his own cross and I’m bearing mine.”
Like Cantona, though, he yearns to be a great entertainer too and remembered for being the best with WBA, IBF, WBO and WBC champion Wladimir Klitschko his target.
“As a kid I used to like, and try to be like, [ex-featherweight world champion] Prince Naseem Hamed,” he tells Sport360°. “But as I got older I realised heavyweights can’t do that because they will get knocked out if they tried; being reckless, outspoken, crazy, throwing awkward shots from awkward angles.
“But he was a showman, and I enjoyed that. There’s not many showmen in boxing anymore and the ones who are, are massive stars.
“To become a superstar being a nice guy doesn’t cut it. You have to have an edge. I know that this could be taken away from me at any time, I know what all this is about.
“Sports people are pieces of meat. We are here for people’s entertainment and amusement. Like the gladiators who used to kill each other and people used to applaud, we are here as entertainment too.”
A frank Fury, part of a Travelling heritage, is as decisive with his opinions as he is with the blows that have produced 16 knockouts in his 22 wins. And a revised attitude towards the sport has helped him cope with emotional difficulties.
In revealing a battle with depression, he admitted he felt like getting into a car and “running it into a wall at a 100 miles an hour”.
“Depression is only a hard thing for those who suffer with it,” he adds. “General people can never understand what it feels like to be depressed and sick of your life. But life is precious to a dog never mind a human being.
"No matter how low you can get there’s always a better and higher point. I didn’t have anything to be depressed about. I was undefeated, going well in my career, a nice wife, family and money, good with God.
“Everything was good, yet I was very very depressed, almost to the point where I was suicidal depressed, couldn’t see what life was about and thinking what’s the point of living.
“God helped, that’s it. If you put everything in God’s hands he will help you get through it and provide the answers.
“I now treat boxing as a business. It’s like Jekyll and Hyde. I can be a Hyde outside the ring, but when I get in there it’s kill mode, a light switch flips and bang it’s me or you.
“Sport can take over your life. When it was a personal thing, it was my life. I grew up around boxing so it was everything to me, I was the biggest fan in all the world. But when you get involved in boxing, what’s behind it, the politics, you realise it’s all about money. Since I’ve been treating it all as a business, not a problem, and no depression.”
Fury’s motivation is not money, nor titles, but recognition as he says: “I don’t think I’ve achieved anything really. Growing up I’d watch people like Danny Williams and Audley Harrison and Michael Sprott, who were British champions at the time. I used to think, yeah that must be a big achievement. But when I won the title, I didn’t think it was. I just thought it was routine.
“I’ve always aimed for the stars, it’s never about a domestic aim. Anything less is a failure in my opinion. Even the world title, what does that mean at the end of the day?
“I could fight for the world title in the morning against a man who is rubbish and I will be a world champion? It would be nice to officially become a world champion, but it doesn’t mean you are the best in the world.
“It’s about who you beat. I want good fights, I want to fight Deontay Wilder with his 31 knockouts, I would have fought David Haye, I would fight Wladimir Klitschko, I’m going to fight Dereck Chisora. I’ll fight anybody that makes sense.
"I don’t want to fight for 50 world titles, all I want is to fight Wladimir Klitschko and knock him off his pedestal. He can keep his belts, I’m not interested in belts, all I want is that win.”
While he relishes the prospect of facing Chisora – who he beat three years ago on points – and then Wilder or Klitschko, Fury is dismissive of another foe after their showdown never happened. Despite the hype, a cut and shoulder injury to Haye saw their bout cancelled twice and Fury fuming.
“That fight didn’t happen, it’s not going to happen. I couldn’t care less if he comes back to fight again. You know, if he died, I wouldn’t bat an eyelid,” he says. “I’m focused on Chisora and he ain’t going to beat me now. No way. He knows that, I know that and everyone in boxing knows that. I don’t think he has improved since last time. He was 27 then, a full-set man, two years older than me then than I am now.
“I was a kid, an untested baby, in that first fight and if he was going to beat me, then he would have done it then. I’m confident, it’s what I am and always have been.
“It’s not scary taking on these guys. If I’m in the park with my wife and kids and someone comes over with a gun, that’s scary, boxing isn’t. I’m going to do my job, something I’ve known all my life.
“I come from a long line of fighters in my family, bareknuckle fighters even going back over 100 years. It was mainly my dad who inspired me to box.
"Growing up around him, he was a British fighter and I always wanted to follow in his footsteps. In our culture of people he is a king and you have to try to follow him and make him proud.”
Dad John won’t be ringside, though, as he serves a nine-year prison sentence for assault. But Fury will aim to make him proud nonetheless.
“He’s out in February so hopefully he will then be able to see me fight.”
And maybe then with his son the heavyweight champion of the world.
LIFE OUTSIDE THE RING
Born: Manchester, England, August 12, 1988
Career: 2008-current; Fights: 22, wins 22 (16 KO’s)
Hobbies: I enjoy going to the movies, The Notebook is my favourite. I do a bit of clay pigeon shooting, 4×4 too with my Land Cruiser.
Favourite other sportsman: I don’t admire others really, only God. I like football, a Manchester United fan. I’m looking forward to Louis van Gaal coming in as manager and resurrecting them because Holland have done well at the World Cup. It will be good to see what he can do.
Your dream dinner guests, past or present: Elvis Presley and Eric Cantona.
Best moment: Getting married [to Paris] and having kids. It’s good being a father. I’ve got two kids [Venezuela and Prince], and another due in December. That’s what it’s about for me. All the title fights, the big arenas, it’s irrelevant, it’s about family.
