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JRE MMA Show #47 with Tyson Fury

Tyson Fury is an undefeated British heavyweight boxer. On Dec. 1, he challenges current undefeated champion Deontay Wilder for the WBC World heavyweight belt.

Joe RoganhostTyson Furyguest
Oct 26, 20181h 13mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:07 – 1:21

    Fight hype: two undefeated heavyweight champs collide (Fury vs. Wilder)

    1. JR

      Boom, and we're live. How are you, brother? What's going on?

    2. TF

      I'm good. It's good to see you.

    3. JR

      Pull this sucker up to you.

    4. TF

      Boom. How's that?

    5. JR

      Boom. Good.

    6. TF

      (claps)

    7. JR

      I'm very excited about your fight, man. Very excited.

    8. TF

      Not as excited as I am-

    9. JR

      (laughs)

    10. TF

      ... to be here.

    11. JR

      I'm sure. What... H- how often is it that two undefeated... I mean, you're not a heavyweight champ because they stripped you, but you never lost. Two undefeated heavyweight champions go at it like this. This is a huge fight.

    12. TF

      Very much so. It's never, ever happened before, ever.

    13. JR

      It's pretty exciting.

    14. TF

      Someone two as big as us, um, have never, ever fought each other. (sniffs)

    15. JR

      What do you think of... I mean, for people who don't know, you're fighting Deontay Wilder, who's a, an American undefeated knockout artist. And you are probably one of the more interesting guys in the heavyweight division, not just 'cause of your personality, but your skillset, the way you move. You're long and tall, but you got great footwork and you're fast. You know, it's a very, very interesting fight as far as, like, boxing technique.

    16. TF

      It's power, raw power versus boxing skill. Two guys, one six-foot-nine, one six-foot-seven, both charismatic, both talkers, one British, one American. It doesn't get any bigger than this. This is the biggest fight that could be made at this time in the heavyweight division or in the world of boxing.

  2. 1:21 – 1:51

    Breaking down Deontay Wilder’s style: awkward movement, huge power, high risk

    1. JR

      When you watch Deontay Wilder move around, w- there's nobody that moves like that guy. So odd. Like-

    2. TF

      He reminds me of Bambi on ice.

    3. JR

      (laughs)

    4. TF

      He doesn't really find his legs underneath him. (laughs)

    5. JR

      No, sometimes he throws and he's got no legs underneath him. He's just-

    6. TF

      (laughs)

    7. JR

      ... he's swinging and literally he's flying through the air as he's punching.

    8. TF

      I've seen him fall over a few times as well.

    9. JR

      Yeah.

    10. TF

      But listen, the guy tries to land that big punch and-

    11. JR

      Yeah.

    12. TF

      ... when you're trying to knock people out with every single punch, then if you miss, it becomes a problem and you go off balance and maybe fall over.

    13. JR

      Yeah.

    14. TF

      (sniffs)

  3. 1:51 – 3:22

    The Luis Ortiz fight: Wilder’s resilience, Ortiz’s mistakes, and behind-the-scenes claims

    1. JR

      Were you, uh, impressed with him in the Luis Ortiz fight?

    2. TF

      I was impressed with him because he came back.

    3. JR

      Yeah.

    4. TF

      And he was losing all the rounds. I only gave Wilder the rounds that he knocked Ortiz down in. Um, so he done well. It was his acid test, so to say, come through. Ortiz is 49 years old. Um, albeit-

    5. JR

      At least.

    6. TF

      At least. Albeit he was past his, past, like, his prime age, but still undefeated, um, champion going in. So it was a great victory for Deontay Wilder, and he proved to me that he can get, come back, get hurt, come back, and win a fight.

    7. JR

      Yeah, and Ortiz comes from that Cuban system. He's got great skills. I mean-

    8. TF

      Yeah.

    9. JR

      ... he, and he's looked fantastic in every single fight other than that fight, up until that moment that he got hit.

    10. TF

      Yeah, look, you can't go swimming and not get wet.

    11. JR

      Yeah.

    12. TF

      Ortiz had over 300 amateur fights, 20 odd professional fights, nearly knocked them all out. But if I may be critical of, uh, Luis Ortiz at this minute, he stood in front of Deontay Wilder, right in punching range, which is not a wise decision considering the guy's had 39 KOs.

    13. JR

      Yeah.

    14. TF

      And his, his movement, he was trying to move a little bit, but he, he was on old legs. And I know a story what happened before that fight. Luis Ortiz had very bad blood pressure, and the doctor was gonna pull him out, and he had Charles Martin on standby, but he said, "No, I need the money."

    15. JR

      Is that right?

    16. TF

      So he went in and fought anyway, and he still nearly beat Wilder.

    17. JR

      He had high blood pressure?

    18. TF

      Mm-hmm.

    19. JR

      That's interesting. And where, where are you hearing this from?

    20. TF

      Good sources.

    21. JR

      Good sources?

    22. TF

      Yeah.

    23. JR

      Those are the best sources.

    24. TF

      Always the best.

    25. JR

      (laughs)

    26. TF

      Inside info.

  4. 3:22 – 3:53

    Fury opens up: lifelong mental health struggles and the post-Klitschko crash

    1. JR

      You're an interesting story, man, because, uh, not just 'cause of your personality, but because you're, you've come back from mental illness and you're very, very open about it.

    2. TF

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      You know, I think that's, it's a, that's a very unique thing, right? I m- I remember when you, when you beat Klitschko and won the title, and then you kind of went off the rails, and I thought you were just partying, you know? When, when I-

    4. TF

      Yeah.

    5. JR

      ... heard about it, I thought, "Wow, guy made a shitload of money, became the heavyweight champion, all the pressure and the press and all the craziness." But it was more than that.

  5. 3:53 – 6:04

    Boxing politics after the title win: belts, rematch clauses, and a ‘dirty business’

    1. TF

      It was more than that. It's, it started off like, I'd suffered with mental health problems my whole life, but I didn't know what it was 'cause I never had no education on the matter. Um, and it wasn't till after the Klitschko fight, a very massive high, then I had to have a even worser low, lowest low that anyone could ever have. Um, I'd wake up and I'd think, "Why did I wake up this morning!" This is coming from a man who had everything, money, fame, glory, titles, a wife, a family, kids, everything. But I felt as if I had nothing. I felt there was an empty gaping hole that was just filled with gloom and doom, and it just was one bad thing happened to me after another. Within seven days, the IBF stripped me of their title because I couldn't defend against Glazkov, who was a nobody, because I had a rematch clause with Wladimir. But the IBF wasn't expecting me to beat Wladimir, so they chucked that clause in there anyway, thinking Wladimir's gonna want to be able to defend against Glazkov. But because I won, they, they stripped me of the belt-

    2. JR

      You said within-

    3. TF

      ... which was none of my reason.

    4. JR

      ... within seven days of the fight?

    5. TF

      Yeah.

    6. JR

      That's insane.

    7. TF

      Yeah.

    8. JR

      How can they r- require you to fight within seven days?

    9. TF

      No, they didn't, but they required me to, to go into negotiations.

    10. JR

      Let's just sign. And you didn't... So just not going into negotiations to sign, they stripped you within seven days?

    11. TF

      Yeah, but they knew I couldn't go into negotiations because of the rematch clause.

    12. JR

      (sighs) Boxing's a dirty business.

    13. TF

      So I was stuck in between a rock and a hard place.

    14. JR

      Yeah.

    15. TF

      And, and that's what happened. That was one belt gone. And then my team and Klitschko's team were carrying on about where the fight was gonna be. It was gonna be on a cruise ship in Dubai. It was gonna be here, it was gonna be there.

    16. JR

      A cruise ship?

    17. TF

      Time was dragging on.

    18. JR

      A cruise ship?

    19. TF

      A cruise ship, yeah. There was some, um, Arab billionaire-

    20. JR

      (laughs)

    21. TF

      ... who wanted to make this fight an exclusive fight for him and his buddies.

    22. JR

      No.

    23. TF

      Yeah. Um-

    24. JR

      Come on.

    25. TF

      Seriously.

    26. JR

      (laughs)

    27. TF

      This fight was heading for a cruise ship.

    28. JR

      That fucking oil money, man. Jesus Christ.

    29. TF

      They've got some money, but listen, if they can afford it, do it. That's what I say.

    30. JR

      That would have been the most hilarious scenario ever for a world heavyweight title fight, a bunch of Arab billionaires on a cruise ship. (mimics explosion) Wow. So they strip you of the IBF belt. You go into negotiation with Klitschko for the rematch.

  6. 6:04 – 15:07

    Why Klitschko II never happened: injury, lost desire, and a spiral into addiction

    1. JR

      How come the rematch never happened?

    2. TF

      The rematch didn't happen initially because I went over on my ankle in training, um-I was in Holland, training for the rematch and I was running up on heavy terrain and I went over on my ankle, sprained my ankle quite badly, so we had to postpone the fight. Um, but by the time I was off, like say, three months, getting this ankle right and all that, I just, I just didn't wanna do it anymore, if you know what I mean. I didn't have the desire. The fire wasn't burning no longer to fight. And I was suffering with depression the whole time. Even in training camp, before I sprained my ankle, I was depressed as depressed could be on a daily basis. And I'm thinking, "Why am I feeling like this? I don't have no reason to feel like it." Some people will say, "Oh, well, it's attention-seeking," or whatever, but unless you've experienced what I'm saying, it- it's sort of impossible to understand where I've been or where I've come from. And it just went from bad to worse. Um, I hit the drink heavily on a daily basis. I hit the drugs. Um, I was out all night partying with, with, uh, women of the night and not coming home. And, you know, I didn't care about boxing, I didn't care about living, I just wanted to die and I was gonna have a good time doing it while I was doing it. I used to drink and take drugs to get away from the depression because when I was drunk or high then I wouldn't, uh, I wouldn't think about being depressed. I thought about being, um, a, a boxing champion or I'm a ... I feel great. But as we know, when the drink wears off, it only leaves you with a bad hangover and feeling even more depressed. For someone who suffers with mental health, the worst-est thing we can do to escape it is take drugs or alcohol.

    3. JR

      But yet, that's the most common approach.

    4. TF

      And that's the common approach because people ... we don't know-

    5. JR

      Yeah.

    6. TF

      ... 'cause it's not spoke about. And this is why I wanna spread the word on mental health so when other people are in this position in the future, they know where to go and they know what to do 'cause there's a blueprint.

    7. JR

      Well, kudos for you- to you for doing that because so v- so few people have the courage to talk about their struggles when they go through them because it seems like a weakness.

    8. TF

      Yeah.

    9. JR

      You know? It's, it's very powerful that you're willing to do that and just be open and honest about it. There's a few people out there that are doing that now.

    10. TF

      Yeah.

    11. JR

      You know, our friend Mauro Ranallo, he's gone through some, some serious, uh, mental health issues and he's very open about it and talks about it quite a bit. Now, when you were training for the first Klitschko fight, uh, for the fight rather, did you have it then?

    12. TF

      Not really, no. Be- I was set- focused on what I wanted to do, and that was beat Wladimir Klitschko. And I believe when you've got a goal in mind al- from being a child all your life and you do that, then i- I was like, I was lost. It was almost like I didn't have anything more to do in me life. Although I could have carried on and defended the belts and whatever, I wasn't really interested in doing that. I'd beat the man I'd always wanted to do, 'cause when I was an amateur boxer, I used to watch Wladimir Klitschko on TV as the world heavyweight champion and I always aimed ... he was my target to beat. And when I finally beat him, it was like climbing my Everest. I didn't have anything more to prove. And the fire was dead. There was no fire. I was forcing meself to fight. And I always said I didn't wanna be one of those people who just fought for money, because there's plenty of people with money in the world, plenty of them, but who knows them? And the reasons for me fighting, it's not for money or, or for belts or glory. I fight because, uh, I don't know anything else. I've always been a fighter, from being born to being 30 years old now. It's all I love to do. I don't have any other passion. I've looked. The Lord knows I've looked. And if I had anything else I was good at or I could do, I'd be doing it.

    13. JR

      (laughs)

    14. TF

      I just- I tried retirement. I was 27. I retired only the second man in boxing heavyweight history to retire unbeaten as a world champion, like Rocky Marciano before me. But it wasn't enough. I was like, "I am lost without this fight game." I tried golfing, I tried clay pigeon shooting-

    15. JR

      (laughs)

    16. TF

      ... I tried 4x4-ing, I tried going to strip clubs, bars, restaurants, everything, and it was just like I had this emptiness inside where I just wanted to fight.

    17. JR

      Well, in comparison to what you've accomplished, everything else has to seem pretty dull. I mean, and you, you step into the ring with Wladimir Klitschko, who was widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights ever, and you boxed his face off. I mean, that was a beautiful performance.

    18. TF

      It was. Uh-

    19. JR

      You shut him down. It was weird. It was weird to watch them. It's like there was moments in that fight where he just- he just looked like he didn't know what to do with you.

    20. TF

      And we're gonna see it again on December the 1st. Like I said to Wladimir, I said the same thing to Deontay Wilder, "You've fought the Americans, you've fought the Mexicans, you've fought the Europeans, but you ain't never fought the Gypsy King before." I said it straight to Wladimir. I said, "You're looking at a king." I said, "Have you ever fought a king before?" He said, "No." I said, "Well, you're fighting one now." And I said, "You're gonna lose to one."

    21. JR

      Well, he's lost before, but he's lost because he got clipped and hurt and stopped, and- and I was very impressed with him actually in the Anthony Joshua fight because he came back from getting badly hurt and almost put Joshua away. But the fight with you is different because you just outboxed him, and he was known as the guy who would box and hold, jab and hold. I mean, he was one of the most boring heavyweights of all time. Fantastically successful, but from a spectator point of view, you watch some of his fights, you're like, "Jesus Christ, he would jab you, grab you, jab you-"

    22. TF

      Yeah.

    23. JR

      ... grab you." I mean, that was his thing, right hand, grab you.

    24. TF

      It worked. He had 25 title defenses.

    25. JR

      Yeah, I mean, it was very successful, but that shit didn't work with you.

    26. TF

      It didn't. For the first time in his whole career, he was fighting somebody who was not just bigger than him, but more athletic, who could move more.

    27. JR

      Yeah.

    28. TF

      Someone who wasn't just looking for one lucky punch. I knew going into the Wladimir fight that everybody, all the rest of the opponents, them 25 men before me, had all went in trying to do the same thing, try to knock him out. And he's got- he's got something of a, a weird defense where he puts both arms out in front of him, and it's almost very awkward to land on that chin with big punches. So I thought, "I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna make that mistake. I'm gonna outbox him." And, and all me team said, "This is not a good idea. We've gotta go to Germany to try and outbox a super champion and try and win on the cards? Are you crazy?" I said, "Yes." I said, "But if I wasn't crazy, I wouldn't be great."And I went over there and outboxed him. And nobody, n- nobody, apart from me brother or me father, thought I could do it. You know, even people who were close to me in camp, they were like, they were very unsure of what was gonna happen.

    29. JR

      (laughs)

    30. TF

      And me being me, I always had that little smile on me face because I believed it. I believed I could always beat Vladimir Klitschko. I even told Vladimir years before when I was 22, I said, "I'll beat you one day." Emanuel Steward told him too, God rest his soul, he said, "Tyson Fury is the heir to the throne." He said, "And when his time is ready, he will beat you."

  7. 15:07 – 19:05

    Rock bottom: suicidal ideation and the Ferrari highway incident

    1. TF

      But, you know, I look back on it now and I think, "Would I change that?" I wouldn't. And not many people would think, "Well, this man's crazy for saying that on a radio show." But I wouldn't change a thing because I know it was supposed to happen and I needed to be tested to see what type of character I was. Although I did all those mad things and I went through all that time and I tried to commit suicide and I-

    2. JR

      How, how did you try to commit suicide?

    3. TF

      Well, I'll tell you what happened. I, like I said, I was waking up and I didn't want to be alive. I was making everybody's life a misery. Everybody who was close to me was pushing away. Nobody could talk to me, talk any sense into me at all. And I'd go very, very, very low at times. Very low. And I'd start thinking all these crazy thoughts, and this, that, and the other. And I was in me car, I bought a, I bought a brand new Ferrari convertible, um, in the summer of 2016. And I was in it and I was on the highway and there's a strip of the highway where I am, and at the bottom of about a five mile strip, there's a massive bridge that crosses the motorway. And I knew that. And I got the car up to a 190 miles an hour. I was heading towards that bridge and I didn't care what no one was thinking, I didn't care about hurting me family, me, me career, people who friends, anybody, I didn't care. I didn't care about nothing, I just wanted to die so bad. I give up on life and just as I was heading towards that bridge at 190 in this Ferrari, it'd have crushed like a Coke can by the way if I hadn't hit it. I heard a voice say, "No. Don't do this, Tyson. Think about your kids. Think about your family and your little boys and girls growing up with no father and everyone saying your dad was a weak man. He left yous. He took the easy way out 'cause he couldn't do anything about it." And I, before I turned into the bridge, I, I pulled on the motorway and I was shaking. I could feel meself shaking and I pulled over and I was all nervous and didn't know what to do and I was frightened and I was so afraid. And I thought that day, "I'll never ever, ever try or think about taking me own life ever again." And I didn't. I went and got help from a, the leading psychiatrist, um, doctor in the UK. And me dad went up with me and she said to me dad, she said, "Can I have a word alone with you, John?" He said, "Yeah." Me dad told me what she said when he came out. She said, "He is not to be trusted alone. He's an imminent death risk." That's the highest level of suicide risk that she'd ever assisted. And she said, "Without his faith, he would've been dead a long time ago." But she said, "Faith alone ain't gonna hold him 'cause that's gonna break. And once that goes, he's done." So that put me dad's life in terror as well because he was checking up on me all the time, he wanted to be with me 24/7. He was even sleeping in my house with me, a married man with four kids. I was in a right state. I just, I just... I, I wanted, I just didn't want to live anymore and I had everything that a man could want. There wasn't nothing that I didn't have. But it meant nothing, nothing meant anything. I felt worthless and the longer it went on, the, the, the more it, it hurt inside and the more I was hurting everybody. Everybody gave up on me. Me full family thought I was definitely gonna die and I was gonna kill meself.And after that, I, I tried... I was thinking to meself, "You know what? I need to get better. I need to, I need to do something." But every time I tried to go to the gym, I had another voice saying, "No. This ain't anymore. I'm not gonna do this." I didn't wanna do it. I'd run... I'd run 200 yards and pull up. I wouldn't even get a mile or anything. "Oh, can't be bothered. I don't wanna do this. Boxing is not for me." I hated boxing at one stage. (sniffs) In 2016, early '17, I wouldn't have done a boxing fight for this room full of Diamonds. No way. I hated boxing. I wouldn't watch it on the TV, I wouldn't read about it. I hated boxing. I'd done it me whole life, and I didn't want no part of it

  8. 19:05 – 27:02

    Decision to return: Halloween wake-up, prayer, and rebuilding from 400 pounds

    1. TF

      anymore. (sniffs) And I was out drinking. I didn't care. Give up. Taking drugs, like I said. And it come to a point, I was doing that for 18 months of me life. (sniffs) And I was out, 2017, Halloween. I was, uh, 400 pounds, dressed up as a skeleton. And I goes to this fancy dress party and it... I'm looking around and I'm thinking, "These are all young kids compared to me." I'm 30 and I feel like I was the oldest guy in there, like 29. I was like, "What am I doing here? Is this what you want for your life?" And I thought to meself, "This is not me." And no matter how many people told me before this where I was going wrong, what I was doing, "You need to act your life," you can only change your life if you wanna change it. And I, I left and everyone said, "Are you going home early?" I said, "Yeah." I left at nine o'clock. I went home and I got back home, I didn't say anything to the wife. I ju- went straight upstairs into a dark room and I took the stupid skeleton suit off and I was... I was sat there. And I got on me knees and I was praying and begging God to help me. And at this point, I'd never... I'd never begged or cried to God to help me before. I prayed a lot all me life, but I'd never been in this physical state before. I could feel tears running down me face. Me chest was wet with tears 'cause I knew I couldn't do it on me own. It wasn't possible for me 'cause I'd tried and tried and tried and ended up back in the pub, back drinking. I almost accepted that that was gonna be my fate, an alcoholic. So I was on me knees in this bedroom. Um, after praying for about 10 minutes, I got up and I felt the weight of the world was lifted off me shoulders. And for the first time in years, I knew I was gonna make a comeback. And I called me wife, I said, "Paris, Paris." She said, "What?" She thought I was drunk coming home from the pub. I said, "Monday morning, I start the Regain mission to try and get the Heavyweight Championship of the World back." She said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." Because before this, every time I'd have a beer, I'd come back and, "I'm gonna be the Heavyweight Champion of the World again," 'cause it was... it was the alcohol talking. So I was like the man who called wolf a thousand times on this, this stupid career that I... that I was living on the past, l- thinking about years before, glory days. And after this prayer, I got up, I said, "Right, this is gonna be it." She didn't believe me one second, but even when I speak to her now she says, "That night you told me that," she said, "I heard a difference in your voice. Something happened." Next day, I phoned up Ben Davison and I said, "I don't wanna go back down the old route with the same trainer, same promoter, same anything." I said, "Everything's gotta change." I says, "There's gotta be a new Tyson Fury." And we called it Return of the Mac mission. And as I went out that morning, after phoning Ben and ar- arranging everything, I went out for a run in me sweatsuit. I had... I had ambitions of running two miles. I got about five minutes into the run and stopped, and I walked. And while I was walking, I thought, "I can't run. I'm too fat, 400 pounds." But I thought, "I'm gonna walk. I'm gonna get out and walk." While I was walking, I was flicking through on me phone on Instagram and I sees this video of Deontay Wilder saying, "Yep, Tyson Fury's finally done now." Because the week before, I'd been at a boxing show in Manchester or something, and the press took a picture of me and it was like everywhere, this big, fat, out-of-shape, ugly, bald-headed, bearded, white-as-a-sheep man. And I was, like, a state. And he'd done this video. "Yep, after seeing this evidence of Tyson Fury, I finally know he's finished. He can never come back. And if he... even if I would've fought him in his heyday, I'd have knocked him out." And before that, he was talking about Mike Tyson, how he'd knocked Mike Tyson out in a round. And I thought to meself, "That's very disrespectful to talk about someone who's not even from your era and wanting to fight them and all that sort of stuff, when there's no possible chance." So, thought to meself, "You know what? If I ever do fight you, I'm gonna give it you for that reason." And then when I saw this other video of him saying the things about me and that I couldn't come back and that, it gave me that much more motivation to return just so I can beat Deontay Wilder. So, I had all these court cases on as well. I was being charged with taking performance-enhancing drugs, nandrolone, something I'd never done. I had... I had nandrolone in me system. It's produced naturally in the body, but they say my levels were elevated. The UKAD, UK Anti-Doping, said there was no case to answer. But all of a sudden, I had a big WADA case on me that took nearly three years to sort out. And by... A- a- and everyone said, "You're getting your n- hat nailed on here, son. You're getting a 12-year ban." And I said, "Do you know what?"

    2. JR

      A 12-year ban-

    3. TF

      12 years.

    4. JR

      ... for nandrolone?

    5. TF

      Not just for nandrolone. I... I refused them as well. I was in a bad mood one day and the drug testing people come in the gym and I told them to fuck off.

    6. JR

      This is when you were training for your comeback?

    7. TF

      This was when I was out of training, yeah, when I was just... All the time I was fat and out of shape and not training, I was still being randomly drug tested by UKAD.

    8. JR

      Really?

    9. TF

      That's why I tested positive twice for cocaine. And everyone said, "Nope, you're never getting back." The bo- the Boxing Border Control suspended me license in the UK for the cocaine, um, use. So I had a... a court case looking at ban fo- ban forever, basically. Suspension. The doctor made me medically unfit to fight.So that was after, I forgot about that bit. When I was rescheduling the Klitschko II fight, uh, this psychiatrist phoned up and he says, "Look, he is medically unfit. He can't fight anybody. He don't want to live, nevermind fight." So I was medically deemed unfit to box, suspended by the Boxing Board of Control for the cocaine use, and I had a nandrolone case on me, and a refusal case. And by the way, it was racking up millions of dollars in lawyer's fees too. But I was so confident that I was gonna ... everything was gonna be okay because when I was down on my knees, I just knew that it was gonna be okay. And everyone was like, "What's the point in training and doing anything with you when you're not- you can't do anything, you're not in a position to do it?" I said, "Everything is gonna be all right. Don't worry." Court case comes along in December, we'll go. They say, "Right, this court case is dragged on insufficient evidence. Get rid of it." We both agreed that we was gonna call quits on the case. I go my way, they go theirs. They pay their legal fees, I pay my legal fees. Done. That was a drugs case out the window, finished. The suspension, I- I had a meeting with the border control in the UK and they said, "Look, if- if you can get past medically fit by a doctor, mentally, then we'll reassess your case. Until then, denied." So I said, "Right, no problem." Phoned up the psychiatrist, the same people who we- who I'd spoke to, all these doctors, three or four different Dr. Phils, Dr. Jones, whoever else. Said, "Right, I need a- I need reassessing." Reassessed me, bang, passed, flying colors. I went back to the border control, handed in my certificate by all these different doctors, examinations, physical and mental. They said, "We have no other choice but to give your license reinstated." Bang. So it was three of the biggest obstacles in my life at once, were all done within a month or two, straight away. Then I just had the easy task of losing, uh, 160 pounds.

    10. JR

      (laughs)

    11. TF

      Which if I could have got over all them other things, losing weight as a fighter was something that I'd done natural anyway. So then, me and Ben set about losing this 160 pounds. And on the way back, I'd spoke to Frank Warren and he became my promoter. And Frank said, "Right. You've had a long time out the ring, you've abused your body. Let's get you four or five comeback fights, just so you're ready." I said, "Okay, no problem." Had the one combat fight, had the other combat fight. I said to Frank, "I don't need any more combat fights. Make the Wilder fight now."

  9. 27:02 – 38:17

    Comeback obstacles: doping allegations, cocaine tests, licensing, and choosing Wilder

    1. TF

      "No, no, no, no, no," he said, "let's have a couple more, just in case." I said, "I'm telling you, make the Wilder fight." So this is where people don't understand. I've picked Deontay Wilder, he didn't pick me. I picked him.

    2. JR

      Well, he needs a high profile opponent right now-

    3. TF

      He does.

    4. JR

      ... because it looks like ... I mean, I don't want to say that Joshua's ducking him, but it looked like he didn't-

    5. TF

      I'll say that.

    6. JR

      Yeah. There's something going on. He wa- who- whether it's his- his management or his promoter, they didn't seem to want that fight right away.

    7. TF

      I know some quite close details on that. Um-

    8. JR

      What is the detail?

    9. TF

      The details is, um, Wilder's team offered Joshua's team $80 million for a two-fight deal. $50 million for the first fight and- and $30 million for the rematch if Joshua lost, and they declined that. And my lawyer, Robert Davis, he saw proof of funds from Al Haymon. So Eddie Hearn and his- his chum buddies can all say this, that, and the other, but I know the truth, 'cause proof of funds were seen.

    10. JR

      Do you think it's because of when Klitschko knocked him down and had him hurt, they were worried about Deontay with his big power?

    11. TF

      I don't think it's about either fighter. It's bigger than that. It's about money.

    12. JR

      About keeping the money rolling in.

    13. TF

      Keeping the golden goose laying them eggs, looking after it.

    14. JR

      Right. Don't take any risks in fighting a guy like-

    15. TF

      Thing is with- with Anthony Joshua, who's an Olympic gold medalist and in the UK, he's a massive star, he sells out stadiums, 70,000, 90,000.

    16. JR

      Yeah. Huge star.

    17. TF

      Huge star. Um, so why would you want to get him beat by somebody who nobody's really heard of?

    18. JR

      Or even take a risk of it?

    19. TF

      They took the risk in the Klitschko fight. It almost didn't pay off.

    20. JR

      Right.

    21. TF

      They scraped through skin of their teeth. But he done it. Fair play. He got up-

    22. JR

      Yeah.

    23. TF

      ... off the canvas, showed a champion's heart to come back and knock out Klitschko. Fair play. But since then, they haven't remotely stepped up at all.

    24. JR

      Yeah.

    25. TF

      They fought Joseph Parker and he didn't knock Joseph Parker out, he didn't even hurt Joseph Parker. He fought Carlos Takam, had a hard fight with him.

    26. JR

      Had a hard fight.

    27. TF

      Hard fight. So they're just keeping that money train going.

    28. JR

      Right.

    29. TF

      And I don't blame them because this is a business at the end of the day.

    30. JR

      Mm-hmm.

  10. 38:17 – 50:31

    How Fury says he beat depression: goals, structure, training, and faith (without meds)

    1. JR

      That's, uh, high praise. So when you decided that you were gonna make this comeback and you're dealing with all this, these mental health struggles, what did you do to overcome the mental health problems? What did you do to overcome the depression?

    2. TF

      Like I say, when I got up off that floor I had a weight lifted off me and I had me mind set for the first time in two years that I wanted to do something again. I think the, the way to beat mental health is setting goals, giving yourself short term and long term goals, and that's what I did.

    3. JR

      That's very interesting.

    4. TF

      I gave meself a goal of losing the weight, just pound by pound basically. I set meself a 10 pound, um, target and I'd reach that and then I'd set myself another 10 pound, 15 pound, whatever. And I'd give meself little rewards and stuff. I wasn't obviously eating junk food and I was on a strict diet for, for six months, and I was training twice a day, six, seven days a week. But with the mental health, I don't suffer with mental health when I'm active and when I've got a goal. And I think most people will vouch for this. If you suffer with mental health problems, you tend to suffer 'em when you're on your own, when you've got a lot of time to think, and when you're not doing much. But when you're busy on a daily basis you don't have enough time to think about mental health and I figured out well, if I exhaust meself in the gym, I come home and I'm too tired to think about anything, I just wanna get some food and go to bed.

    5. JR

      (laughs)

    6. TF

      So that's what I do.

    7. JR

      So you didn't use medication?

    8. TF

      I didn't use medication, no.

    9. JR

      Wow.

    10. TF

      I was, I was prescribed with medication from the doctor but I refused to take it. I took a couple of pills, helped meself relax from the doctor, but I never took 'em again. I only ever took a couple.

    11. JR

      What'd they give you?

    12. TF

      I, I think it was like... it was either diazepam or triazepine or something like that, some-

    13. JR

      Some antidepressant.

    14. TF

      Some antidepressant pill, yeah. But I done research on 'em and I didn't like what I was seeing, like, and I knew my, uh, my grandfather, me dad's dad, he was addicted to pills his whole life, pills that didn't even do anything for him and they was placebo pills. But without 'em, he couldn't function.

    15. JR

      Really?

    16. TF

      So I didn't wanna become one of them. Me granddad had take pills and they didn't do anything to him, but in his own mind he thought they were doing something, calming him down and I didn't, didn't wanna be one of them people. There was a point in my life where I, hand on heart, thought I was gonna end up in a padded room. That's how bad it was.

    17. JR

      But it's fascinating that you're saying that setting goals and setting your mind on things and hard training is what set you back on track.

    18. TF

      Yeah.

    19. JR

      You know, I don't know what you're like when there's no one in front of you but standing here in front of you right now I would say this is a, a healthy, vibrant guy.

    20. TF

      100%. I've never felt better. Mentally strong, physically I'm training hard, I feel fit as a fiddle. You know, uh, I wouldn't be here if I was anything wrong with me.

    21. JR

      But that's fascinating that most people think that to come back from a mental health issue like yours you need psychiatric care and you need medication, and you're saying you did it with setting goals and hard work.

    22. TF

      And the biggest thing we're missing here is I didn't, I didn't do it with doctors and, um, all them type of things. I done it with something way more powerful. God.

    23. JR

      So your faith and your belief.

    24. TF

      Me faith and belief that God would make me better, made me better.

    25. JR

      Almost like the faith and belief in-

    26. TF

      And somebody who, who don't have any faith will think, "Oh, this is nonsense or whatever," but I'm living proof.

    27. JR

      Well, if you believe in something...

    28. TF

      Yeah.

    29. JR

      I mean, just like you were talking about believing in pills that don't do anything, belief is a powerful thing whether... who knows what's behind that belief but what you're saying is so powerful that you, just by virtue of changing the way you think about things, setting goals, working hard, you lifted yourself out of the worst depression of your life to the point where you were suicidal.

    30. TF

      100%. And I never ever went back to that from this day to that and it's been, been well over 12 months.

  11. 50:31 – 55:08

    Dropping 160 pounds: diet changes, alcohol calories, and ‘dirty keto’ reality

    1. JR

      Now, how long did it take you, for you to lose the weight?

    2. TF

      I started training in November 2017.

    3. JR

      400 pounds.

    4. TF

      Yeah, and I-

    5. JR

      Can't run.

    6. TF

      I got down to 275 pounds in me first fight back in June. And by August in me second fight back, I was 258 pounds. And I've, I've maintained that weight, 260, 258.

    7. JR

      That's your ideal weight?

    8. TF

      Yeah, from there to now.

    9. JR

      So, um, what did you do different with your diet? Like, what did you...

    10. TF

      I was eating a lot and drinking a lot. I just stopped all that sort of stuff. Like, my weight wasn't put on through being a normal person eating normally. My weight was put on through excessive drinking of lager.

    11. JR

      Hmm.

    12. TF

      There's like 500 calories in one pint of beer. And I'd go out and I'd drink a minimum of 18 of those beers.

    13. JR

      (laughs)

    14. TF

      Followed by whiskey-

    15. JR

      Ugh.

    16. TF

      ... vodka, everything else. Then I'd stop off on the way home and have pizzas, kebabs, chocolates. It was excessive living. If you put your body through torture, you can't expect to feel great.

    17. JR

      Right.

    18. TF

      So what I did was I started eating healthy, not drinking. And that was it, really. I just trained on a daily basis for a long period of time and, and et- et sensible and clean. Don't have to cut everything out, but if you want faster results, then, then you do it.

    19. JR

      Now, you said you changed your training as well. What did you change up?

    20. TF

      Before, I was doing a lot of, um, long running and long boxing works, like 12, 15 rounds on the bag, pad work, all that sort of stuff. Wherein while I was trying to lose the weight, I was doing more short, explosive stuff. Like, I was doing short, faster runs, as, as fast as I could go basically. Um, I would do more interval training and stuff like that. Mainly it was, uh, focusing on diet though. Diet is the most important thing for any- anybody trying to lose weight. You could train like a Trojan warrior, but not eat correct and you go three steps forward and two and a half back.

    21. JR

      Right.

    22. TF

      And you find yourself after six months a little bit less than you was, but you stay in the same position. Because with the diet, not that I'm a dietician, but I know how, I know how it works with losing weight heavy, because all the way through my career I put on a lot of weight. I lost a hundred, hundre- just, just over 100 pounds for the Klitschko fight the first time round. And I'd lost over a hundred, 125, 120 something pound before that again. So what I do to lose weight is I go on a no carbs diet. So, it will be totally keto, ketosis diet. I put me body into keto shock. And they say you should stay, if you're doing a keto diet, you should only do it for 11 days. I do it for six to eight weeks.

    23. JR

      Who said you should only do it for 11 days?

    24. TF

      I, I read it somewhere.

    25. JR

      Yeah.

    26. TF

      My nutritionist, yeah, he said, "No."

    27. JR

      (laughs)

    28. TF

      He said, "You can only do this diet for 11 days." I said, "I've already been on it six weeks."

    29. JR

      You need a new nutritionist.

    30. TF

      Don't worry about it.

  12. 55:08 – 1:06:09

    New camp philosophy: hiring Ben Davison, modern training mix, and avoiding overtraining

    1. JR

      Did you change anything in terms of your strength and conditioning work or your boxing work? Like did you, did you hire a new boxing trainer?

    2. TF

      Yes. I've not got the same trainer as I did have before. I-

    3. JR

      And why did, why did you switch things up?

    4. TF

      Because I was stale in the gym. I didn't have no motivation no more being ... I'd done the same thing for years. And I didn't have any more motivation in the gym. I had to have a new, new team. And I knew this going into this, um, come- comeback that I wanted a new team. I wanted to start fresh, give meself some goals, give meself s- a new team, more positivity instead of doing the same stuff day in, day out. Switch up the trainer, and I did. Choice of trainer was very, very controversial as well.

    5. JR

      Who'd you go with?

    6. TF

      I went with an unknown trainer who was 24 years old, who'd never trained anybody.

    7. JR

      Why'd you do that?

    8. TF

      Because ... I'll tell you the story. He was helping out Billy Joe Saunders who was over in Marbella, Spain.

    9. JR

      Big fan of that guy, I like that guy.

    10. TF

      Yeah. I like that guy too. And he was helping out Billy Joe and he was an amateur boxer before Ben. He had about 12 fights and he, he ... Billy Joe, he was helping Billy Joe for a few years. And we went over to Marbella and we was out in a bar. I was training at this time during the 17 hours, I had two weeks training with Billy Joe over in Spain. He said, "Will you come out and keep me company in Spain?" I said, "Yeah, of course I will. Marbella, let's go." I never had any intentions of training.

    11. JR

      (laughs)

    12. TF

      I went over there for a good drink up and a party.

    13. JR

      (laughs)

    14. TF

      So gets out there and we're all in the coffee shop on the, on the Puerto Banus, and these two stunners were walking past in bikinis. I mean, 10 out of 10 each. And I said to Ben Davison, I said, "If you go and get me their numbers, Ben," I said, "You can be my boxing trainer." He went, "What?" I said, "You heard me correct the first time." So off he went after these two, two good-looking girls. 20 minutes goes by, he comes back, no number. I said, "Right." I said, "Clearly you're not the man for me," I said, "Because the trainer I need has to have minerals."

    15. JR

      (laughs)

    16. TF

      I said, "And if you can't get a woman's number," I said, "Well, you not clearly can't win fights, can you? Simple." He went, "What? I'll show you." Offed off all in a mood. Two minutes later he comes back, there's the number, bang. Straight over. I said-

    17. JR

      He had excellent motivation.

    18. TF

      He hired.

    19. JR

      You h- you hired him because he got hot girls' phone numbers?

    20. TF

      Yeah.

    21. JR

      Mm.

    22. TF

      I hired him for that reason, not just the, the hot girls' phone numbers. That wasn't the case. It was the case that he was willing to put himself on the line to prove to me that he could do something that takes minerals. And if you don't have any confidence, then you can't go over to somebody who's really good-looking and say, "Oh, my name's Ben."

    23. JR

      (laughs)

    24. TF

      "And their ... my mate wants your number. Is that possible?" Like he wouldn't have got the number if ... he didn't-

    25. JR

      Right.

    26. TF

      ... have any confidence and he didn't have any gumption to him. Wouldn't have got that number. So I knew he was a good choice because he was young and fresh and had a point to prove, and he wanted to do something with his life. And I gave him that opportunity. And it was the best decision I ever made.

    27. JR

      Now, what about what he knows about boxing? Obviously that played a factor. If he's just some random schmoe who's good at getting-

    28. TF

      No.

    29. JR

      ... girls' numbers.

    30. TF

      No, he, he wouldn't be the trainer if it was just that. We ... before this, he was taking me on the pads and stuff in between Billy Joe's sessions and we gelled straight away. Me and Ben think alike. Sometimes you meet people in your life and you're very similar in, in personalities and we like the same things, we like to do the same things, got the same type of personality. We just gelled automatically. I gelled, even before I said this about the number of the girls, I already knew that I was gonna make Ben me trainer. He's got a very keen eye for boxing and what he does is, is very ... he doesn't look like he knows a lot about boxing. By looking, he just looks like a young lad, good-looking fella. But when you sit down and analyze the fighters, he studies boxing day and night. We'll be out watching movies after the training, Ben's in his room watching Deontay Wilder, watching the fights, watching this, watching that. He studies the game and he's always coming up with different game plans on how to beat this person, how to beat that person. Very, very happy. He's a very knowledgeable young lad. And I said before I even made him my coach, I said, "Within five years you're gonna be one of the leading boxing trainers in the world." And now he's got his chance. And if I beat Deontay Wilder, Ben Davison will win Ring Magazine Trainer of the Year 2018.

  13. 1:06:09 – 1:12:57

    Game plan talk and wrap-up: Fury calls Wilder a one-trick pony and looks past the hype

    1. JR

      (laughs) Now, uh, training for Deontay Wilder, what have you done different?

    2. TF

      To be honest, we haven't done anything different. Um...

    3. JR

      Is he the tallest, longest guy you've ever fought?

    4. TF

      I think him and Klitschko are the same, same size.

    5. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    6. TF

      Mm. I think Klitschko might have had longer arms maybe or maybe not, I dunno. But he, he's up there anyway. If he isn't, he's, he's the second tallest I've ever fought. But every tall guy I've ever faced, the taller the better for me. I don't know why, but I seem to be able to move better than them. They're taller and heavier. My ideal opponent would be like tall as anything and heavy, because then they don't move as quick and they can't turn good at all and they're, they're stiff.

    7. JR

      Well, what's unusual about you is that you're a tall guy who's m- who moves like a guy who's not tall.

    8. TF

      Yeah.

    9. JR

      And that... Most tall guys have that advantage of long- length and utilization of that length. They're very good at judging distance and they have that advantage. But what you're doing is you're moving around a lot on top of being tall, which you could see with Klitschko, it was v- very off-putting like right away. He didn't know how to fuck with your timing.

    10. TF

      Yeah.

    11. JR

      It was...You know, that's, that's a giant advantage.

    12. TF

      It is. Uh, all me life growin' up I used to watch all the great American heavyweight champions of the world. (smacks lips) With me bein' European, there's a stigma about European fighters: they're stiff.

    13. JR

      Mm.

    14. TF

      They can't move. They're just strong. I agree. I agree. 90% of European fighters are stiff robots who just do a lot of conditioning work and lift a lot of heavy weights, and they go in there tryin' to do one thing: one, two, left hook, right hand, take four or five shots back. I didn't wanna do that. I wanted to have European conditioning with American style, the best of both worlds. And I believe that's what I've got. I've got the brashness and the movement and the speed of an American fighter, but I've got the European conditioning and core strength. Best of both worlds.

    15. JR

      Now, when you think about a guy like Deontay Wilder, who's got this wild style and tries to knock you out with every, with every punch, are you doing anything different, without giving away your strategy coming into this fight, are you doing anything different in terms of your preparation or in terms of the way you shadow box or move or train?

    16. TF

      (sighs) Not really, no. Um... (smacks lips) How can I explain this without sounding like a clown? (smacks lips) I'll try me best. Deontay Wilder is a one-trick pony. I don't need to do anything special to beat him. I just need to be meself. Deontay Wilder's looking for one right hand all night.

    17. JR

      It's a good trick though.

    18. TF

      It's a good trick-

    19. JR

      (laughs)

    20. TF

      ... but we all know what happens when that trick don't land.

    21. JR

      Yeah.

    22. TF

      You've lost.

    23. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    24. TF

      You need more than one punch to beat me. You need to be able to set it up with footwork, speed, feints, movement, and he doesn't have any of that. If the great Klitschko, who had excellent footwork and ability to set that big punch up, couldn't do it, what chance has the big swinger got of doing it? If I get hit by a swinging right hand as a serve knocking out, it's my fault. I want it to knock me out. If I let Wilder swing one of those wild punches from the back of the hall and hit me and knock me out, then I'd, I'll say, "Thank you very much. You put me out my misery. God bless you, Wilder." Because obviously, I can't be a great fighter that I think I am if I'm getting knocked out by swinging punches. It's just not possible. I don't take big shots anymore. Years ago, for... before, pre-2013, I used to take everything, bang in the face. Would try and walk through and use my sheer strength, size, and aggression, had heart and determination to get through everything. But as I stepped up in levels, I realized that wasn't gonna get me anywhere but a good hiding, a good punching in the face.

    25. JR

      (laughs)

    26. TF

      So I changed me style to boxing and moving, slippin' and slidin'. And I'm... Y-... People have never seen me take any big shots because I'll just ride 'em. Bit like Muhammad Ali used to do. He used to take the shots and the gloves would go with it.

    27. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    28. TF

      Slip, slide, roll. Even the... As powerful as George Foreman was, he was the heavy favorite going in. He knocked out Frazier, and Frazier beat Ali, and he had f- great fights over 15 rounds. It didn't help him in that fight because he used his greatest asset against him. And if I can use Deontay Wilder's own power against him, then I've won. He's looking for one punch. I'm not. So there we go. And I don't believe... If he can't land that punch, he's lost every round. Even his, uh, promoter, Lou DiBella, said recently, he said, "If he doesn't knock Tyson down and knock him out, I don't see how he can win."

    29. JR

      Now, I don't want you looking past this. But let's just say you beat Deontay Wilder. How do you talk Joshua into a fight?

    30. TF

      I don't. Because you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink it.

Episode duration: 1:13:39

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