By Cassandra Cousineau for LVSportsBiz.com
Tyson Fury is emerging as one athletes able to transcend his respective sport of boxing and becoming a mainstream marketing success.
The behemoth affable heavyweight is a six-foot, nine-inch character straight out of a Rocky movie, a promoter’s dream exemplifying a fighter’s ultimate goal of cashing out at the end of a long career in the sport.
For the better part of a year, the lineal heavyweight champion has embraced Las Vegas as a home base as he’s crisscrossed multiple oceans promoting the biggest fight of 2020 thus far. Fury’s (29-0-1, 20 KOs) rematch with WBO champion, Deontay Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs), is set for the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Saturday.
The bright side is he’s putting in a level of work necessary to hit the two million PPV that Top Rank Founder, Bob Arum, has been publicly estimating the championship fight could generate. Arum heaped praise on his fighter’s ability to stay on top of his game. “I’m particularly impressed and very thankful for Tyson Fury, who has shown the world how you as a participant promote a big event like this heavyweight championship match.” He doesn’t seem concerned by the dense schedule the 31-year-old has kept up during training camp either.
“Tyson has done a marvelous job communicating to the press, and having watched him in the gym sparring, I’m telling everybody that he’s on the top of his game and you’re going to see a masterful performance from Tyson on Feb. 22.”
Instead of rolling out a traditional parade of face-offs in big cities for a fight of this caliber, Fury and Wilder have taken advantage of the massive platform afforded to them through the ESPN, Fox, Top Rank and PBC partnership. The cross promotion is a rarity in boxing, nonetheless extremely powerful when promotions and networks agree to work together.
He’s made a WWE appearance, appeared in a Super Bowl 54 TV commercial in front of more than 100 viewers, cranked the rally siren at a Vegas Golden Knights game to start a VGK vs Islanders game Saturday, and today both Fury and Wilder will show up as guests on Fox’s hit show The Masked Singer. Tyson Fury has been everywhere graciously granting interviews and candidly sharing his story. More specifically, sharing his struggles and how lucky he feels to be alive at this point.
Lurking behind those bright lights is the shadow of an ever-present dark side. The busyness and outside noise of it all almost acts as a medical prescription helping Tyson Fury drown out the demons he’s fought with for most of his life. Going back to his childhood, as revealed by his father, John Fury, the 31-year-old has battled with mental illness.
The lineal champion became an international boxing star in 2018 when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko to win the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles, but that success was absorbed by a groundswell of an alcohol and drug induced depression. A complete spiral also saw the heavyweight stripped of his titles due to a drug suspension.
Now clean and sober and riding a wave of post suspension victories in the ring, he doesn’t hide his struggles outside of the squared circle. Every time he’s asked, the Gypsy King is candid about being bipolar and diagnosed as manic depressive. Shockingly, this week he’s also admitted in an on camera interview with Behind The Gloves to feeling suicidal on Sundays. “Then Sunday comes and every Sunday I am absolutely suicidal. Every single Sunday whether I am in camp or I am at home. If I give up the gym I will be dead within a year that is for sure.”
Fury has found purpose in fighting not only for his own mental health and wellness; he’s also an advocate for others. “I represent the oppressed people in the world. The depressed, the alcoholics, the drug addicts, the down and outs. All the people who don’t think it’s no hope anymore, all the people who struggle in darkness and need a guiding light. I represent them people.”
As it relates to cashing out, that’s going to happen sooner rather than later. Counting his rematch with Wilder, Fury has three fights left on his Top Rank Promotions contract. Likely, that includes a trilogy with Wilder, and a UK mega fight with his country mate, and two-time unified heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua.
“I’ve never, ever, ever been as focused or as ready for one fight as I am for this fight. I have pulled out all the stops that anyone could ever pull out for a training camp. I’ve not left anything unturned,” Fury explained during a media call. “Every butt has been kicked. We are going to see the best Tyson Fury that Tyson Fury can be.”
Born and raised in Manchester, Fury weighed just 1lb at birth after being born three months premature. He was born a fighter. Except his biggest foe doesn’t come from the world of boxing. It’s the internal one that keeps him fighting to get through Sundays.
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