The ever modest Tyson Fury has had a 2015 to remember after winning and then stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship.
He sat down with Loaded last year to tell us he didn’t care about titles and only wanted money.
Here’s why, from the Gypsy King himself.
Interview by Scott Walker
March 2014
“David Haye hasn’t got his little toe to hide behind this time, but we’ll see what excuses he comes up with.”
Tyson Fury quietly expected the worst when Loaded spoke to him ahead of his planned bout with the Hayemaker last August. Sure enough, Haye cut his eye during training and postponed the £10 million Battle of Britain, only to then require career-ending shoulder surgery last November, flooring hopes of the pair ever meeting in the ring and our interview with them seeing the light of day.
On to the south of France, and another Fury training camp – “Same shit, same shit, same shit. Same bullshit every day, three times a day. Sleep eat, shit, train. That’s it. Nine, 10 weeks, then you fight.” And we were worried he’d be in a bad mood…
The Motormouth Manc is returning to the ring on February 15 in an undercard bout to headliner Dereck Chisora, whose rematch with the unbeaten Fury is pencilled in for June.
“They fancy him to beat me,” says Fury, typically bewildered at the thought of anybody, let alone someone he has already picked off with ease, taking his unbeaten record from him.
“It’s crazy. They fancied him to do me in 2011 and now they fancy him again, because he was overweight the first time, they say. He had a 14-week training camp for that fight. It wasn’t like he had three days’ notice. He prepared himself for that fight. If I go into a fight unprepared and lose, it’s my fault. I can’t blame the opponent. You can’t teach old dogs new tricks and Chisora is not good enough to beat fighters like me. I just hope he gets through this next fight on the 15th, because with my luck, something could go wrong.”
Could veteran bulldog Haye shut up yappy pup Fury once and for all?
Indeed. The proverbial barrel of tits wouldn’t do Fury’s luck over the past few months’ justice. Twice on the verge of a fight that would set him up for life financially, whatever the outcome, and twice frustrated.
Could veteran bulldog Haye shut up yappy pup Fury once and for all? Could Fury mark a new dawn and save an ailing heavyweight division? British Boxing needed them to thrash it over a few rounds, not least after David Price’s consecutive defeats in his own back yard last year, and Chisora’s losses to Haye, Vitali Klitschko, and Robert Helenius.
It’d have been a bonus if Haye had fought, but shit happens in boxing,” says Fury. “We had to take the gamble, but what can you do? The big thing about that fight was I was going to get a lot of money from getting a few million. It was security for the rest of my life. Apart from that, it was only another boxing match, and it’s on to the next one.”
The reality of what might have been has turned the gung-ho trash talker we met in 2013 into a pragmatist “sick of slagging people off”. Fury even one million people per cent retired” from boxing after the Haye fight and his attempts to goad the likes of Lennox Lewis into the ring fell flat, only to announce his comeback plan of one fight a month to make up for a year of wasted training and celibacy.
Modest Fury
That may have to wait.
Fury insists he needs to top names in the opposite corner, in 50-50 fights where people feel his spotless record could be bruised.
Going 12 months 12 times a year with that calibre of opponent would be a stretch. For now, whether he likes it or not, he’s got a three fight deal with Boxnation, taking him to the Chisora rematch.
“Boxing’s all about money,” he tells loaded. “Money talks, and bullshit walks. I already beat Chisora three years ago, and because {promoter} Frank Warren has put his hand in his pocket and got out a big cheque, I’m going back over the same path. Three years and seven fights down the line, I’m going over old ground because of money. It’s not about glory, fame or any other stuff.
“Money controls the lot. There’s nothing to fgain from the fight, only money, but then we all need money to live. A man’s got to earn his living. I’ve got a family to provide for, and I’m not interested in winning belts, going down in history, and all that bullshit fighters say. To me, it’s purely about money. A way of earning money.”
“I love shagging women; I love eating food. I’m not bothered about getting punched in the face, but I don’t fucking love it.
It doesn’t bode well if cash is the only reason one of the few names who can shake up the sport is spoiling for a fight.
Fair enough, anyone would struggle to keep the faith, but surely there’s more to it.
“Look, there’s nothing enjoyable about waking up and training your balls off three times a day. This is my line of work. It becomes enjoyable when you’re fit. But getting fit and going through that mill is hard work. The actual fighting part of it, there’s something crazy inside of me that likes to fight and I like to box. But I wouldn’t say I love it.
“I love shagging women; I love eating food. I’m not bothered about getting punched in the face, but I don’t fucking love it.”
Fury hopes to get another three fights under his belt in the second half of the year. Undefeated American Deontay Wilder is on his hit list, but the pay-per-view channels here and abroad have yet to be convinced it’s a big enough draw.
Hungarian heavyweight Kubrat Pulev is another possibility, but Fury isn’t sold on the notion of people who are struggling to put food on the table spending money on a boxing ticket. So who’s left?
Wladimir Klitschko – “the robot”, as Fury called him last year. With his brother, Vitali, “the pensioner”, retired, the world champion is the one he wants -m it always has been.
With Haye out of the picture, and the Chisora bout potentially a final eliminator for a title shot, Klitschko jr would be the only one left.
“He’ll go into hiding,” Fury says. “He only wants easy fights. The guy’s 37 his brother’s retired and you have to question how much he wants it. No matter how many time I call people a pussy or dickheads or whatever, if they don’t want to fight they don’t want to fight. It’s the same with Wlad. I can only fight who I’ve got in front of me. I’ve tried getting boxers out of retirement. I’ve tried all that stuff.”
There’s always UFC heavyweight champ, Cain Velasquez.
“If (UFC boss) Dana White puts some proper money on the table then I’d go over there and have it, whatever he wants,” says Fury, although we put it to him that it smacks of a frustrated fighter desperate for a scrap.
“Look, as long as things are fair and equal and I’m not getting the piss take out of me then I’m alright, I don’t mind where I go. This year, I’m just going to stay active, stay training, no holidays. I want this year to go smoothly. No more hiccups, I’m not going to rely on world title fights any time soon. Someone like me has to fight his way into position, because I’m classed as a dangerous fight for anyone. Sometimes you can be too good for your own good.”