FURY ALMOST ELBOWED OUT
Ring rust forced Tyson into war with Wilder
TYSON FURY needed injections in BOTH elbows before facing Deontay Wilder in their trilogy fight last month.
Heavyweight world champion Fury dropped Wilder three times before their third contest was halted in the 11th round.
But his preparations were disrupted by two bouts of Covid-19, the premature birth of his sixth child Athena and issues with his joints.
Fury has since had surgery on both elbows – and his dad John (below)
claims his son was only 50 per cent ready for the first defence of his belt.
“Tyson was very badly injured going into that fight,” said Fury Snr. “He had to have chromosome injections into both elbows.
“He’s since had an operation – six hours in hospital – having them sorted out.
“He had some bone spurs that he had to get removed, so he was handicapped from the beginning. The boxing side of it went out the window because I knew he was going to be like that from early on.
“When I saw the look in his eye, I just knew he wanted to seek and destroy.
“That’s what he did and believe me, it was exciting for the paying public.
“In my mind, I knew it was only 50 per cent of what he should be because he had too many problems. I could see it was ring rust, 20 months out the ring and he thought, ‘OK to hell with the boxing, it’s not going to work, let’s have it, let’s have a war,’ and he stood toe-to-toe with him – but it shortens careers doesn’t it?”
Fury is currently preparing his brother Tommy for his clash with social media star Jake Paul next month with his own ring return likely to be against Dillian Whyte next spring.
He could then target a clash with fellow champion Oleksandr Usyk if he beats Anthony Joshua for a second time.
But John Fury told BT Sport: “He could beat Dillian White and Usyk on the same night with a proper camp. I’ll put money on it.
“Cruiserweights don’t beat giant 6ft 9in, 20st fighting machines do they? They might think they can, in their dreams.
“Nobody beats Tyson. I’m not saying it because he’s my son. He’s proven me right, hasn’t he?”
To watch BT Sport’s exclusive
interview with John Fury in full, head to the BT Sport Boxing Youtube
channel.