Fury prepares for hero’s return
london — Tyson Fury will return to Britain hailed as a hero after his demolition of Deontay Wilder completed a remarkable redemption story as anticipation grows over an all-British unification bout against Anthony Joshua.
The self-styled “Gypsy King” brought Wilder’s five-year reign as WBC heavyweight champion to a dramatic halt in the seventh round of their rematch in Las Vegas Saturday.
It is an astonishing comeback for the 31-year-old, who battled depression, drink and drug problems that threatened to end his career in the years after he beat Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA, IBF and WBO belts in 2015.
The controversial British heavyweight has made no secret about his battles with mental health issues and cocaine use and said at one stage he considered suicide.
Fury’s licence to box was suspended by the British Boxing
Board of Control in 2016 pending further investigation into “anti-doping and medical issues”.
He was cleared to fight again in December 2017 by UK AntiDoping (UKAD) after accepting a backdated two-year ban for testing positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.
At one point the boxer, named after fearsome former undisputed world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, was drinking 18 pints of beer a day with whisky and vodka chasers.
“When you have a goal in mind from being a child — and you achieve it... I was lost, I didn’t know what to do,” he told the Joe Rogan podcast in 2018. —