Yahoo Sports Tyson Fury 'very badly injured,' only at 50% before Deontay Wilder fight, father says
Tyson Fury was "very badly injured" going into his fight with Deontay Wilder last month and underwent a six-hour surgery following the victory, his father, John Fury, told BT Sport.
Fury received injections in both elbows ahead of the Oct. 9 fight, the third of their trilogy series, John Fury said in an extensive interview from his 1950s caravan home in the countryside. He added that his son went into the fight at "50%" after a positive COVID-19 test in July and his daughter's stay at the ICU in August. Athena Fury suffered complications shortly after she was born on Aug. 8 and was put on a ventilator.
"He was handicapped from the beginning," John Fury said. "It wasn't a boxing match, was it? Because Tyson was very badly injured going into that fight."
Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) kept his WBC heavyweight title with a knockout in the 11th round. The only mark on Fury's record is a draw with Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) in the first of their three bouts in December 2018.
There were five knockdowns in last month's fight — three by Fury and two by Wilder. Via ESPN:
"My son's No. 1, a legend and will be spoken about for hundreds of years," John Fury told BT Sport. "He's that damn good and got that burning desire to never get beaten.
"He had to have [cortisone] injections into both elbows. He's since had an operation, six hours, all day in hospital having them sorted out. He had some bone spurs he had to get removed.
"He said to me afterwards, 'I couldn't box, I couldn't work the jab. If I'd missed the jab, it would've put me in limp mode and I wouldn't have been able to fight. The pain when throwing the jab was unbearable, so I was fighting two people — the pain in my own body and him. All we could do was make it a war, and I wanted to win more than he did.'"
John Fury said Tyson only had about three or four weeks to train for the fight and had to get his mind right in that short span.
"In my mind, I knew the truth, because he was only at 50% of what he should be," John Fury told BT Sport. "He had too many problems. He had the COVID in July when it was first meant to take place, then he got the problems with his daughter. You can't get your head straight from that within weeks. And that's what he did. And to perform like he did. ... He thought, yup, 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, and it was a thrilling affair, but it shortens careers, doesn't it?"
