Tyson Fury before his fight with Oleksandr Usyk (Image: PA)
has opened up about the intense criticism he faced after his defeat by , admitting that the negative reaction almost led him to retire from boxing.
The heavyweight champion was defeated in a unanimous decision during their title fight in May, which saw his corner, including his father John Fury and trainers SugarHill Steward and Andy Lee, come under fire for their advice throughout the bout. Despite the backlash, Fury is now preparing for a rematch with Usyk and has robustly defended his team’s actions on the night. “There was no confusion at all,” Fury asserted.
He went on to express his disregard for outside opinions: “I’m going to do what I’m going to do and at the end of the fight I didn’t feel like I was not getting a decision. So everyone at the ringside, my brothers, everybody, was saying, ‘Oh, just do what you do and you’re winning, you won the fight’, that’s it. It’s all just someone’s opinion and opinions mean s*** to me, because at the end of the day, he’s got his decision, and that’s it, on to the next one.”
Fury expressed his frustration with the sport, saying: “That’s the only thing for me, what makes me want to retire, is the s*** that comes with boxing. It’s not the fight, not the training camps, all of that’s easy. It’s just like the problems it causes, like the rows it causes with people, with families and boxing people, all that, it’s just – sometimes it’s not worth it.
“As for boxing, going in there and doing a fight or training for stuff, that’s easy, but everybody else, like people who’ve never had a fight in their life trying to give me information, what I should do in a fight or what I should have done in a fight. These are people who’ve never boxed, never known anything about sporting competition, but everyone’s a boxing manager or a trainer when it comes to it.”
Additionally, Fury was adamant about his strategy for the rematch, stating, “I haven’t changed anything, and I won’t change anything,” and elaborated on his dominance in the previous bout, “Why would I change something? I had control of the fight for maybe 80 per cent of it? I’m landing on him at will, head and body, lead right uppercuts, left hooks, right hooks to the body, doubles at times. I don’t feel I need to change anything.”