Tyson Fury’s life changed forever after beating Wladimir Klitschko, but it hasn’t been all wine and roses according to “The Gypsy King.”
Monday was the seventh anniversary of Fury’s historic victory over Klitschko. Klitschko is a legendary heavyweight fighter and had never lost in 11 before losing to Fury in a unanimous decision at Dusseldorf. The win made Fury the undisputed heavyweight king and pushed him into another level of stardom, a change that he says was for the worse in the long run.
“I think it was a s*** night, to be honest,” Fury said on The MMA Hour. It was curse. It’s been a pretty s***** seven years since. There were some fantastic 27 year leading up to this, and then there was the ***** decade that followed. Wladimir Klitschko almost got cursed by it. It was obviously an Everest climbed and a heavyweight champion taken out, but it has its pros and cons, for sure.”
Fury fights Derek Chisora in a trilogy bout Saturday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, a bout that marks his return to competition after announcing a retirement this past August.
Since beating Klitschko November 2015, Fury’s had ups and downs, but he continues to be a successful fighter inside the ring. He has also enjoyed a three-fight series with Deontay wilder. But, despite his success in the ring, he still has issues beyond the ring. These include open discussions about his mental health and the struggles affecting him. Fury attributes much of those struggles to his high-stress career, which was only made more so by the fame and glory that has come his way since his historic victory.
“You say I got everything I ever wanted, I never really wanted all the fame and all the s*** that comes with being a champion,” Fury said. Fury said, “That was not what I wanted. I got everything I ever wanted by beating Klitschko, just getting that victory over him. … It takes over your life. You don’t own your own life anymore. It is impossible to go anywhere. A normal life is impossible. So it’s not what I wanted and it’s not a great life. It sucks d***. This is because it’s impossible to live your life. It’s a trap that I find myself in, where people will constantly taunt me wherever I go. I can’t go out with my family, I can’t just be a normal guy no more. I’ve got to be this heavyweight champion, heavyweight boxer who gets hassled by everyone else.
“It’s definitely not what I expected. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I was doing. Although I desired Klitschko’s victory, I wasn’t interested in what it meant. I just wanted to fight to win. This is what I wanted. So yeah, there was a lot of turmoil and struggle within that seven years. Three of those seven years were s*****, horrible, suicidal, and two of them were out to COVID and then the other two were activity and God.”
None of that is to say that Fury regrets defeating Klitschko as the achievement marked a major milestone in his illustrious career. However, it’s not just what the win meant to Fury that makes the fight so special, it’s the effect that Fury believes it had on Klitschko, who fought once more before retiring in 2017 (an immediate rematch between Fury and Klitschko scheduled for July 2016 was postponed due to a Fury injury and eventually canceled as Fury dealt with an anti-doping violation and various health concerns).
Fury loves to shovel dirt on Klitschko because he has long disowned him.
“He is just a fragment of the ***,” Fury. He doesn’t like me, and I don’t like him. That’s an egregious fact. He didn’t like me. Nothing. I just tried to build a fight with him and all the time since he’s just been bitter towards me. He was always there.
“He’s never given me credit for beating him. Never. It wasn’t how good I was or anything or what I did right, it was what he didn’t do. This is what Klitschko will remember .”
forever.
Had Fury lost to Klitschko, it’s anyone’s guess where his path may have gone instead. But it’s a possibility that Fury hasn’t and never will entertain, whether talking about Klitschko or anyone else.
“I don’t think that I can lose fights,” Fury stated. I’ve never considered losing a fight. Even though I am on my stomach in the middle, staring up at the stars and looking down into the rings, losing is not something I think about. I think about f****** people up when I’m down there. It’s crazy.
“Because even when I got put down twice in Round 4 against Wilder, the biggest puncher in history, I was thinking, ‘Right, you’re f***** now m***********. You’re getting it.’ That’s what I do.”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2022/12/3/23485900/tyson-fury-calls-momentous-win-over-wladimir-klitschko-a-curse-its-been-a-pretty-s-seven-years-since?rand=96749
