By: Sean Crose
“I’ve stopped training now, WBC and lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury tells iFL TV. “I’m on holiday.” The interview, which was posted on Thursday, shows Fury discussing life, boxing, and ping pong with reporter Andrew McCart. The fighter also brings up his daily intake of alcohol. “I’m doing probably about between eight and ten to twelve pints of larger a day at the minute,” Fury says. “Not eating, though, so I’m just getting the calories from alcohol.” The fighter made it clear that, as far as he’s concerned, a break is in order. “I’ve done like training, training, training, training, training,” he says, “with no further process…I’m just chilling out, being a man of leisure.”
Fury claims in the interview that not fighting for a long period of time (he hasn’t fought in over a year) can be incredibly damaging. “Being inactive is the most terrible thing any fighter from any combat sport could ever be,” he says, before adding he feels that a lack of action won’t harm him as a fighter personally. “I’m that good,” he says. “Inactivity don’t really mean much to me to be fair.”
As for a long anticipated bout with Anthony Joshua, Fury isn’t particularly optimistic. In fact, when asked about promising reports from Eddie Hearn and others regarding the hoped for fight, Fury is rather blunt. “Eddie Hearn’s a boxing promoter,” he says, “so is Bob Arum. It’s their job to sell the fight.” As far as Fury is concerned, though, that fight isn’t even close to signed. “Until I’ve got a date, a fight, and a hell of a load of money in my pocket, there’s no fight,” he says. “Nothing’s actually on until you’re actually in the ring. We’re nowhere near that at the moment.” What’s more, Fury essentially feels that matters are out of his control at this point.
“I can do nothing. It’s out of my hands. It’s nothing to do with me. Nothing to do with me,” he claims. “Do I think I’m going to be fighting Joshua in the next ten minutes? Hell no. Do I think the fight will eventually happen sooner or later? Yes.” Fury then brought up the fact that the ultimate long awaited fight, Mayweather-Pacquiao, took a very long time to come to fruition. “When it finally did happen, it was the biggest pay per view fight in history,” he says, adding: “even though it was a wet fish.”
“I’m not going to hold my breath for it,” he adds about a fight with Joshua, “that’s for sure. I’m not putting all my eggs all in one basket because I’ve been guilty of doing that before and then these fights don’t happen, and then I end up in a massive depression, and feel like killing myself, so I’m not gunning to say this fight’s definitely happening in May, June, August, whenever.”
Right now, Fury makes it clear he simply wants to fight. “I got two fights this year and I don’t give a fuck who it is with,” he says. Possible opponents? People may be surprised. “Don’t write Wilder off out of the occasion yet,” says Fury. “He can be fighting me next, who knows? I could have a fair trilogy with Wilder yet…there’s a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, and you know, and Wilder might be next. Who knows?”
Whoever it is he fights, Fury lets it be known that the bout will be in Vegas. “I won’t ever box here again,” he says of his English homeland. “No. Finished.” Fury sees himself as the biggest player in the fight game. Therefore, he needs to fight at the premiere location. “It’s got to be in the capital of entertainment in the world,” he says. “My home city now is Vegas. I’ve had my last three fights there. I intend to stay there and end my career there.”
In an interview loaded with lines that could make for headlines, Fury wrapped things up with a true gem. “Jake Paul can fight I’ll have you know,” he says when asked of the social media star turned pro boxer. That’s something Paul’s last opponent, Nate Robinson, could probably attest to.