Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
COMEBACK KING
After stumbling from one controversy to the next, battling mental illness and shedding an incredible 10 stone... Tyson Fury climbs off the canvas to draw world title fight & put himself in line for £120m bout
TYSON Fury has unfinished business with Deontay Wilder after their controversial draw – but he has dealt his demons a knockout blow.
The Gypsy King boxer had told fans they would witness an amazing comeback after his long spell out of the ring, during which his fight had been against booze, drug and mental health problems.
After coming close to suicide and piling on 10 stone to hit 28 stone before losing it again, many experts doubted he had the sharpness, fitness and psychological strength to deliver.
But in LA on Saturday, he defied his detractors as well as WBC champ Wilder’s legendary stopping power as he rose from the canvas twice to go the distance.
It looked to be over with the second knockdown – which came from a thundering right and left-hook combination a minute into the 12th round.
But after beginning his celebrations, Wilder looked at Fury in stunned disbelief as he got back to his feet.
Despite hitting the deck twice, Fury had shone throughout the fight with a solid technical and tactical display.
He was fancied to win on the scorecards and a lot of pundits and boxing legends – including Lennox Lewis and Floyd Mayweather – slammed the split decision by judges that led to a draw.
But there was no doubting who was the real winner of the night.
After the fight Fury, 30, said: “A year ago I weighed 400lb. It is proof anyone can come back from anything.
“I am only a normal man. I was not fighting for myself. When I was down I had to get up for everyone in the world with mental health problems. I’m not going to cry. I’m going to enjoy Christmas and recalculate in January.”
While he did not bring home the American’s WBC belt, his performance has set the heavyweight division alight and earned him £8million. And he could now be in line for a £120million rumble with WBA, IBF and WBO champion Anthony Joshua – the biggest clash in British boxing history. However, a rematch to settle things with Wilder, 33, first could be more likely.
The amazing turnaround comes after Fury spiralled into depression after his shock victory over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to claim the belts Joshua, 29, now holds.
He also came under fire over homophobic comments and a rematch with Klitschko in 2016 fell through twice.
Fury was stripped of one belt and relinquished the others as he battled his demons and served a ban over failed drug tests. He has said his lowest point came as he contemplated ending his life while driving his Ferrari F12. Fury said: “I got up to 190mph and I was headed towards [this] bridge. I didn’t care what anybody was thinking. I had given up on life.
“As I was heading towards that bridge in this Ferrari, which would have crushed like a Coke can, I heard a voice saying, ‘No, don’t do this. Think about your kids. Think about your family’.
“Think about your boys and girls growing up with no father, everybody saying their Dad was a weak man, who took the easy way out’.”
So instead of driving into that bridge and ending his life, Fury drove home and rebooted it. And now, who knows where the Gypsy King’s journey will take him.
It is proof anyone can come back from anything TYSON FURY ON HIS STUNNING DISPLAY