SAYS EX COACH EGAN
TYSON FURY walked into a boxing gym as a teenager already 14 stone and over 6ft tall.
The coach at the Wythenshawe club on the outskirts of Manchester was Steve Egan and his prediction was made straight away as he watched the 14-year-old Fury hit the bag on his first night.
“He was only ever going to be a heavyweight,” said Egan. “That’s why I said to my dad, ‘Heavyweight champion of the world’.
“My dad couldn’t believe it, and when I said it to coaches at other gyms they looked at me funny.”
But Egan’s prediction came true in November 2015 when Fury outpointed Wladimir Klitschko to claim the WBA, IBF and WBO titles.
This weekend, he gets the chance to ®Êby CHRIS McKENNA become a two-time champion when he faces WBC title holder Deontay Wilder in Los Angeles.
Fury grew up loving the sport – or as his dad puts it, “eating with boxing gloves on since he was five” – having been christened after the heavyweight who was making waves in America around 1988.
Skills
Egan was speaking at the Jimmy Egan Boxing Academy – named after his late dad – in Wythenshawe.
It’s not the same premises Fury walked into, as the club has been moved many times. But there are pictures adorning the walls from his early days as a novice to the day he brought in his world title belts.
Tyson honed his skills under Egan in their various gyms and at 18 he won bronze at the World Youth Amateur Championships. “I would have him throwing 10 and 15 combinations,” said Egan. “You see him now and he is still doing that in the ring.”
Fury then fought Commonwealth Games gold medallist David Price in the North West Counties senior ABA final.
Fury had to win to stand any chance of ousting Price from going to the 2008 Olympic qualifiers, but he lost on points.
“The occasion got to Tyson that day,” said Egan. “I missed my own son’s 21st birthday to be with him in Morocco for the World Juniors in 2006. I don’t think my son has ever forgiven me. I won’t get that day back.
“It was all sacrifice thinking I would get him to world heavyweight champion. He always said to me, ‘Me and you Steve, top of the world’.”
When his Olympic hopes ended, after a failed attempt to qualify for Ireland at super-heavyweight, the professional game came calling and in his 25th fight, his prediction came to fruition and he was top of the world. Egan was there that night in Dusseldorf when Fury dethroned Klitschko as the division’s king, but he was no longer in his corner.
The Manchester trainer had been edged out over time but he remains close friends with Fury.
“It hurt me that I didn’t get to play a bigger part in his career,” added Egan. “But I don’t hold it against Tyson. If he came back tomorrow I would welcome him with open arms.
“His pictures are all over the wall, I’m proud of him. There are not many gyms that create a heavyweight champion of the world and I think we did.
“Anyone can polish a diamond, it’s digging it up and crafting it. I think we played a big part. I think Tyson knows as well.”