The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Trainer claims ‘witch-hunt’ has Fury pondering future
BOXING: Negativity has heavyweight champion at an ‘all-time low’
Tyson Fury’s trainer has confirmed the WBA and WBO heavyweight champion is “seeking help” for issues arising over what he believes to be a “witch-hunt” against the boxer.
Fury was due to defend his belts against Wladimir Klitschko next month but has been declared medically unfit, postponing the rematch for a second time.
Peter Fury, Tyson’s uncle and also his trainer, claims his nephew is “at an alltime low” following a wave of negativity and allegations of doping against the 28-year-old.
“I think it’s a culmination of things,” Peter Fury told iFL TV. “When he won the world title the way he was treated, he said to me: ‘I came back off the boat, I picked up the paper, I expected to be celebrated.’ Straight away, he said, the hate campaign started.
“He was complaining about it a lot but said: ‘OK, we’ve got to accept it. I’ve won the world title and this is how I’m treated. There’s almost been a vendetta against me since I’ve won it.’
“On many occasions he’s asked: ‘What’s it for? Because if I’m not being credited for the work I’ve done and what I’ve achieved, why am I bothering?’
“So I think it’s created a lot of negativity in him as a person and it’s just the lack of respect he’s received on a global scale, it’s obviously had an effect.
“I think that, because of the witchhunt against him and recent allegations, it’s put him over the edge. He said: ‘If this is what boxing’s doing, I don’t want it’.”
A statement is expected to be released today clarifying the situation, and Peter Fury added: “There’s a lot to be answered for. It’s very disappointing for me because we’ve got a super talent here and he’s been driven underground with it, almost so he’s at breaking point.
“He’s at an all-time low. I think he’s always been a little up and down in the past, a bit volatile, always has been, but never like this.”
Peter Fury refuted suggestions it was a tactic by the fighter to get the Klitschko rematch postponed.
“He’s fought as a challenger, he’s not even been rewarded financially yet,” Fury added. “He was about to get rewarded as a champion and now it’s all gone by the wayside. So this is not a tactic, this is reality.”
Tyson has been backed “100%” to return to the ring by his uncle, but promoter Eddie Hearn is not so sure.
“I believe he will be stripped of all his titles,” Hearn is quoted as saying in The Times. “It’s not a case of, ‘Oh, that’s a bit harsh’, this is a business for the governing bodies and they have had enough.
“I saw a photo of him three days ago and he looked huge for a guy that was fighting in five weeks.
“They’ll get a medical report, some doctor will say he’s depressed. The bodies will ask the doctor, When can he fight?’ That’s the problem with the injury (there is no set recovery period).”