10. ‘You Let A Fat Man Beat You’
Fury rather flipped during a press conference in the build up to the, subsequently cancelled, rematch with Wladimir Klitschko. He pulled off his shirt and told Klitschko:
“You let a fat man beat you . . . It’s an absolute disgrace to call me an athlete.”
9. BECOMING A HEAVYWEIGHT LEGEND – AND SINGING AFTERWARDS
Against the odds, Fury rather handed the dominant heavyweight of his generation a boxing lesson in November 2015. Wladimir Klitschko simply didn’t know what to do with the giant gypsy and lost his belts on a unanimous decision. Fury celebrated by singing Aerosmith anthem ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ to his wife, Paris.
8. BATMAN!
Fury always promised to deliver press conferences that would be remembered – and this was surely his best yet. To the apparent amusement of Wladimir Klitschko, Fury entered dressed as Batman and when cousin Hughie entered dressed as arch enemy ‘The Joker,’ Fury jumped on him and wrestled him to the ground. Fury then jabbed a finger at Klitschko.
“You next !” he promised.
7. STEVE CUNNINGHAM AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
Because of his criminal convictions, Peter Fury was denied a Visa for Tyson’s fight with former cruiserweight boss Steve Cunningham at Madison Square Garden in April, 2013 – and in his absence, it was mayhem. Peter would later describe it as “an OK Corral fight” as Fury was decked in the second, dazed again in the fourth and then smashed Cunningham out of the fight in the seventh, with the help of his forearm!
6. SINGS WITH KEVIN JOHNSON AHEAD OF THEIR FIGHT
Ahead of Fury’s WBC eliminator against Kevin ‘Kingpin’ Johnson in December, 2012, the fighters discovered a mutual interest. Music. Turned out, Johnson plays the piano and Fury was always keen to show his singing talents. Channel Five got them together around a piano . . . Fury went on to win a dull fight on points over 12 rounds.
5. BEATS WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO IN THE SAUNA
On the invitation of the late Emmanuel Steward, Fury had a spell at Wladimir Klitschko’s training camp in Austria in 2011. They didn’t spar, but they did go head to head in the sauna.
“Wladimir is known as the sauna king, I can’t stand them, but I’m competitive at everything I do,” remembered Fury.
“This sauna was the hottest thing I had been in in my life. Everyone was naked and one by one people started leaving,
then Wlad stands up and starts waving a towel around. I felt like I was going to pass out, but I thought: ‘I’m not going to quit because if he beats me here he’s got a mental win over me.’ So I leant back and thought ‘F**k it, if I pass out, they won’t let me die in here.’
So I am staring at him and he is staring at me and finally, he stands up at about 35 minutes, grunts and walks out and goes straight to his room. I got up and almost fainted in the shower. But he knows he won’t beat me at anything.”
4. TELLS DAVID PRICE HE’S “GETTING IT”
Channel Five decided to ask Fury a few questions in between rounds of their broadcast of the James DeGale-Hadillah Mohoumadi fight in October, 2012.
Bad idea.
Fury was asked what he thought of the news that David Price had just knocked out Audley Harrison in 82 seconds. He called Harrison “a bum” and then turned his attention to Price, calling him “a big stiff idiot” and promising:
“you’re getting it for sure . . . I will fight your gay lover for Tony Bellew in between rounds.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNYLvd-QUrQ
3. GETTING ANGRY WITH DERECK CHISORA
Fury spotted Chisora at the George Groves-James DeGale fight at the O2 Arena in May, 2011 and told him:
“When I fight you, I will knock you out.”
Chisora replied:
“There’s not enough money in the fight.”
And Fury lost it. He remembered:
“I ripped my shirt off and said: ‘Let’s have a fight now, the old-fashioned, street-fighting way’ and he bottled it.’” Fury says “25 security men asked me nicely to leave and I left nicely. If they had touched me I would have broken their jaws. I paid £100 for the ticket and asked for a refund, but I didn’t get it.”
At a subsequent press conference, Fury flipped over a table.
2. PUNCHES HIMSELF IN FACE
In his fourth pro fight, back in March, 2009, Fury faced veteran Lincoln southpaw Lee Swaby. He backed Swaby to the ropes in the fourth and let go a right uppercut – that caught himself on the chin! Fury would later joke he proved he could take a punch.
1. TURNS PRO WHILE ON HIS HONEYMOON
Fury made his debut on the Carl Froch-Jean Pascal undercard in Nottingham in December, 2008 – just days after returning from his honeymoon in the Algarve. Fury faxed through his paperwork to the British Boxing Board of Control while on holiday and went on to wipe out Bela Guongyosi in the first round.
Fury weighed 18st 9bs for the fight and his then-coach, late uncle Hughie said: “Tyson had been eating chocolate for two weeks before the fight.”
READ MORE:
Top 12 Heavyweights Of All Time