It was early 2018, and Tyson Fury felt like he had overcome his bout with drugs and alcohol and beaten depression enough to return to boxing after more than a three-and-a-half-year absence. So he asked Frank Warren to get him a couple of fights, and the promoter obliged with Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta, who Fury defeated that June and August, respectively.
Then, against conventional wisdom, the “Gypsy King” asked for a fight to be made against WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Heading into the December tilt at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, “The Bronze Bomber” was 40-0 (including 39 knockouts) with boxing pundits and fans alike predicting another devastating KO courtesy of the most-dangerous right hand in boxing.
Even Fury’s own father.
“For the first time in my life, my dad, he said to me ‘You’re not what you once was,’” Fury revealed to DAZN’s Ak & Barak during a recent interview, recalling what his father told him approaching the Wilder fight. “He said, ‘You’re finished. You’re not on the level anymore.’”
Fury said the root of his father’s blunt opinion was what he deemed to be mediocre performances against Seferi, who quit on his stool after the fourth round, and Pianeta, who Fury edged on a points decision. Fury’s father didn’t think those performances would cut it against Wilder.
“’That’s not good enough to go five rounds with Deontay Wilder,’” he said his dad told him.
“He actually begged me not to take the fight," Fury continued. "He didn’t think I’d just lose; he thought I’d get severely hurt.”
What transpired was Fury out-boxed Wilder and would have gotten the decision victory were it not for two knockdowns that he suffered, including a brutal one in the 12 round from which he beat at the count of nine. The fight was ruled a split draw.
Although many fans and analysts thought Fury still did enough to win the fight, looking back, the lineal heavyweight champion thought he rushed getting into the ring with Wilder.
“It was a year too soon,” Fury admitted. “I should’ve never taken that fight. I risked everything to prove a point to my father and my family — (that) I wasn’t finished and I had more to offer.”
Fury faces virtually unknown Otto Wallin on Sept. 14, while Wilder has a rematch against Luis Ortiz this fall. If both are victorious, their own rematch should happen in 2020.
In Part 1 of the interview with Ak & Barak on "Sweet Scientists," Fury also opens up about the darkest points of his depression, and talks about mental health advocacy. In Part 2 of the interview, which is now available on DAZN, the “Gypsy King” gives his thoughts on the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Anthony Joshua rematch and Dillian Whyte.