John Fury has warned his son of yes men in the sport of boxing, and branded his trainer, SugarHill Steward, as one of them.
The elder Fury has been a loud voice in Tyson’s corner throughout his career, and he told Stamina For Sale why.
“Tyson likes different people around him telling him how great he is. I’ll tell them straight, if it’s not working I’ll say it’s not working. In Tyson’s case, he don’t like the truth, but I’m gonna tell him it anyway because he’s my son and it’s on his best interests.”
Fury said that, for many teams in boxing, ‘the 10% cut means more to them than the fighter’ – and went on to name his son’s trainer as an example.
“All the SugarHills, everybody out there, they’re all 10% men. They’re all after the 10% … It’s a business, you can’t blame them. They’re thinking of their own ends and making a living. But it’s up to you to have enough brains to see through that.”
“You don’t move them out of their job. Don’t make a friend out of them, or get close to them. They’re not going to tell you the truth are they? Frightened of getting sacked.”
John Fury took issue with SugarHill Steward after the proposed undisputed fight between his son and Oleksandr Usyk collapsed. He called the trainer a ‘Judas’ after he had said he was in the country ‘only’ to coach Lawrence Okolie.
Most saw this as the facts from Steward, and a refusal to speculate on the Usyk negotiations – not John, though, who called for him to be sacked.
He concluded by hinting that the people around him may be having a negative effect on his skills in the ring.
“There’s many times [Tyson’s] looked rough in the gym and I’ve said that’s not too good today, mate. ‘What do you mean?’ I say ‘I’ve told you, need to improve.'”
“But they don’t listen to their dad, do they? Nobody does.”
‘The Gypsy King’ is expected to return to the ring and defend his WBC heavyweight crown in summer, with Andy Ruiz Jr and Zhilei Zhang both potential opponents.