What made Tyson Fury such a worldwide sporting star?
Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 22KOs) is a man who needs no introduction to the true boxing fan. 'The Gypsy King' is a two-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world and the current holder of the prestigious green and gold WBC belt. But it’s not the titles that made boxing fans around the world love him. It’s his entirely unique fighting style, unpredictability and unprecedented behavior in and out the ring, overall charisma and larger than life persona that shaped him into one of the most beloved heavyweight fighters in the entire history of the sport.
The road so far
The 33-year-old Briton got his first taste of major heavyweight success around 10 years ago. That’s when he achieved his first victories over some of boxing's modern greats. Kevin Johnson, Derek Chisora, and Christian Hammer were a ticket to Tyson Fury’s most important fight in his career – the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight title fight against Wladimir Klitschko that the Englishman won, despite being a huge underdog!
It was a career-high for Tyson, but it tragically didn't last for long. Instead of returning home a hero, he came under scrutiny from the public and press, and the heavyweight marvel soon spiralled into a stat of depression, fuelled by drugs and alcohol. Those depression problems almost destroyed his life as he later admitted in an interview about contemplating suicide.
He ballooned up to 28stone in weight but turned his life around dramatically after teaming up with trainer Ben Davison. Three years later, The Gypsy King returned stronger than ever and destroyed USA’s biggest heavyweight fighter Deontay Wilder not once, not twice, but three times and claimed the WBC title to his name.
Who would’ve thought that such a comeback was possible? If you were one of those people then our bonus code is just for you.
What’s next?
Well, Tyson Fury’s battle with Deontay Wilder is finally over and he can look into the future. Tyson’s next fight is going to be a title defense against Dillian Whyte on the 23rd of April at Wembley Stadium but is this going to be his last fight ever? Boxing fans across the globe are getting some very serious concerns that that just might be the case.
“I am 34, most of the greats were already finished by that age so I don’t have a long career ahead of me,” he said in an interview. “This is the final fight of my career. I’m retiring after this. £150m in the bank – healthy, young – I’m going to buy a massive yacht abroad” he further explained.
His words come as a shock to the boxing world as nothing suggested such a decision by The Gipsy King. He was expected to make his title defense against Whyte and then pursue a heavyweight unification fight against Anthony Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk. A unification fight between two UK fighters was something the fans were looking forward to.
Sadly, it seems like Tyson’s decision is firm. His motives are too reasonable for us to ignore. “The only thing I can gain is money,” he said recently and stated that he doesn’t have a lavish lifestyle like some of the greats in history and that the money that he has is more than enough. He states that he wants to quit while he is on top and focus on his family, be a good husband and father.
Should we be concerned that he will honor his word? We will wait and see what happens on April 23rd but such arguments are hard to ignore and this very well may be Tyson Fury’s last fight.