Household name Tyson Fury - “I am living the dream at the moment”

In less than a month, Tyson Fury will step into the ring in the iconic Kings Hall, Belfast in the second instalment of live boxing to be aired by terrestrial television outlet, Channel Five.

Fury’s debut win on Channel Five against Derek Chisora (pictured, image by Chris Royle) received just short of a whopping 3 million viewers and Fury has noticed an immediate effect on his popularity as a result.

“Channel 5 has made the world of difference. You can have 20 fights on Sky Sports or wherever but being on the Channel 5 station really makes a big difference. Even now when I walk down the street, people are like ‘Tyson!” “Champ!” I am living the dream at the moment, it is all great for me.”

Fury is not content with increasing his popularity per se, he is genuinely passionate about embracing his Irish roots and defending his British and Commonwealth titles in front of the Belfast fight crowd. Moreover, Fury insisted several times that he is planning to move over to Belfast to live.

“I have been coming back and forward for a long time since I was 12 years old. It is always somewhere where I have liked to come and I am even thinking about coming out here and living here.”

Fury, who is a cousin of Andy Lee, has Irish roots that in both Nutts Corner (just outside Belfast) and Galway and he has boxed for Ireland as an amateur.

“As an amateur I boxed twice for Ireland, I boxed against Poland and then against America for Gerry Storey’s Holy Family Boxing Club and I also did a bit of boxing out of Smithboro Amateur Boxing Club in Monaghan. Also, I sparred with Martin Rogan, years ago, when I was 17 and have been coming back and forward for a long time.”

Despite not having a confirmed opponent for his Kings Hall show on September 17th, Fury has been working hard in his training camp. “I have had two weeks off since my last fight and I have been training since then. I have been doing, light work, pad work, skipping, sit ups, running. I will come here (Belfast) on the 8th September for ten days.”

A fight with the Klitschkos is a route for the world title, but Fury is in no hurry to make that fight, but did stress the benefits he received from his participation in a Klitschko training camp last year.

“I went out there and I was in the Klitschko camp for three weeks and I do believe that in order to get to the top you have to be a phenomenal athlete, not just talented. Talent can take you so far, but then you need to be physically in brilliant shape – you need to be as fit as a fiddle and you need everything right, to get to the top. And if you haven’t got that, people out there who have, are just going to beat you.”

In Fury’s last fight with Chisora he came much lighter than usual, weighing 255 ½ Ibs and he aims to stay in and around this weight for his next fight.

“Yeah, I am going to try and keep going at about 18st 2lbs, for this fight I will probably be about 18st 4Ibs. It takes years, I am 23 but when you are as big as me it takes longer to mature than it does for a small man, so by the time I am 27 or 28 I will be fully physically – like the Klitschkos are, but at the minute I am not.”

In the recent edition of Boxing Monthly magazine, Fury is pictured on the front cover and has a feature interview inside, however, in the same issue there are scathing comments on the heavyweight division by Steve Farhood, who has called for the division to be axed and lamented.

“The whole division is a waste of time, so drop a bomb on it and do the world a favour”.

Fury raised an eyebrow when Farhood’s criticisms of the heavyweight division were put to him. “They are not taking any heavyweight punches, they are not getting smashed around the ring. They can say what they want about the heavyweight division, but there is no division like the heavyweight division. The heavyweight champion of the world used to be the top man in world sport, not just boxing.

“And now with the Klitschkos and that, we can’t associate with them. Anyone from American, Australia, New Zealand, any English speaking country cannot associate with the Klitschkos. Even though they speak ten languages they are robots and we need someone to spice the division up and get out there and represent and I am the man to do it.”

Mick Hennessy confirmed that he was in negotiations with three or four opponents at the moment and planned to make an announcement very shortly.

“The Only Show in Town” takes place at the Kings Hall, Belfast on Saturday 17th September 2011.

The proposed card is as follows:

12 x 3 min rounds – Tyson Fury (Galway / Nutts Corner) vs. TBA

10 x 3 min rounds – Junior Witter (Sheffield) vs. Stephen Haughian (Lurgan)

8 x 3 min rounds – Ryan Greene (Lurgan) vs. Willie Thompson (Ballyclare)

6 x 3 min rounds – Kid Galahad (Sheffield) vs. TBA

6 x 3 min rounds – Phill Fury (Lancaster) vs. TBA

6 x 3 min rounds – Tommy Tolan (Belfast) vs. Philip Townsley

6 x 3 min rounds – Kevin O’Hara (Belfast) vs. TBA