Tyson Fury has admitted that one of his recent heavyweight title fights took a lot out of his opponent, but also himself.
Fury is no stranger to the big stage, catapulting himself into super stardom when he did what most though was impossible – dethroning Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to become the unified heavyweight champion.
Personal struggles after winning the title saw Fury take a three year hiatus from the sport – a break few thought he would ever return from.
But after a mental and physical transformation, ‘The Gypsy King’ did make his comeback in 2018 and, within 6 months, was challenging for the title again – this time against arguably the hardest hitter in the sport’s history, Deontay Wilder.
The two would go on to compete in one of the great trilogies, culminating in a final showdown which included five knock downs and plenty of twists and turns.
Fury would come out victorious, taking his record against Wilder to two wins and a draw. It was this last fight which the Brit admitted had taken a lot out of him.
“The first Wilder fight wasn’t the most challenging. Me and Wilder had a trilogy, so we ha three title fights together. I think the third one was probably the hardest fight of my career. Wilder 3, we both went to war, we both came in with damaging intentions. He put me down twice and I put him down three times and I ended up getting the knock out in round 11.
But I do believe it took a lot out of both fighters for sure. Hell of a fight.”
Fury is now just one fight away from cementing his legacy as the greatest from this era with an undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk being targeted for December in Saudi Arabia.