Tyson Fury is a British professional boxer best known as the two times World Heavyweight Champion. Born in Manchester, Tyson was raised in Cheshire into a family of gipsies. He left school at the age of 11 and began his training to become a boxer, under his father and later, his uncles. As an amateur boxer, he competed in boxing tournaments from both Ireland and English teams. At the age of 20, he won the ABA super-heavyweight championship and in the same year, he entered the professional boxing arena. He won several titles as a pro boxer, such as the English heavyweight title, the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles, Irish and WBO inter-continental titles. He had a winning record of 24-0 when he faced the world champion Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 and won many heavyweight titles, including the WBF and IBF heavyweight championships. In 2016, he was charged with consuming recreational drugs and slipped into depression following a suspension from boxing. However, he won the lawsuit and returned to the boxing ring in early 2018. He has remained undefeated in the 31 fights that he has participated in. He has won 30 and 1 ended in a draw.

Childhood & Early Life

• Tyson Fury was born Tyson Luke Fury, on August 12, 1988, in Wythenshawe, Manchester, to Amber and John Fury. His parents hailed from Irish descent. Soon after he was born, his family moved to live in Styal, Cheshire.
• He was born three months premature, which put his life in grave danger when he was born. His two sisters prior to him had died in premature childbirth. However, Tyson survived and was named after the internationally famous American boxer Mike Tyson. He grew up with three siblings.
• Ever since he was a kid, Tyson was a little shy and timid child. He showed signs of exceptional physical strength but only when he entered his teen years, did he begin to slowly let go of his extremely shy nature.
• Tyson began his boxing training when he was 11 years old. His father trained him during the initial phase of his training. His father and his uncles had all been professional wrestlers in the 1980s.
• However, in 2011, his father was imprisoned after a violent encounter with a fellow traveller. Tyson had left school in the same year, to join his father and brothers tarmacking roads. Following his father’s arrest, his uncles took the charge of training him. He received intense training under their guidance and in his teen years, he began participating in amateur boxing tournaments.

Early Career

• Tyson’s first introduction to professional boxing happened at the Holy Family Boxing Club, a boxing club in Ireland. He began participating in boxing competitions in both Ireland and England. He also represented both nations in junior international competitions.
• He had more success boxing for the Irish national team, representing the team three times in the international competitions. One of the most remarkable matches of his early career was a 2007 match against the more experienced Polish team. Although the Irish team lost by 12-6, Tyson won both the games he played.
• In the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championship, which took place in 2006, Tyson won the bronze medal for Ireland. In 2007, playing for England, Tyson won the EU Junior Championship. A few months later, he reached the finals of the European Junior Championship, where he lost to the Russian boxer Maxim Babanin.
• In 2008, despite being the third-ranked boxer in junior boxing, he could not represent Great Britain in the 2008 Olympics, as another boxer from his weight category was chosen to be sent. He was also disqualified from participating in the Irish National Championship as he was not born in the country despite his parents being Irish citizens formerly.
• Before turning professional in 2008, Tyson registered his career’s first major title win, when he won the Amateur Boxing Association of England’s super-heavyweight title.

Professional Boxing Career

• In late 2008, Tyson participated in his career’s first professional fight which took place in Nottingham, England. In the fight, he defeated his Hungarian opponent Bela Gyongosi with a technical knockout. He entered the professional boxing ring with back to back successes and in the next 7 months, he faced 6 boxers in the ring and defeated all of them within the first four rounds, all by knockout punches.
• In September 2009, he was all set to participate in the biggest match of his career thus far when he competed for the English heavyweight title. John McDermott, a much more experienced boxer, was his opponent in the fight, which Tyson won. A rematch was set, which Tyson won fairly easily via a technical knockout. Thus, he ended up winning the English heavyweight title twice in a matter of few weeks.
• In July 2011, he further faced a strong opponent, the undefeated Derek Chisora, for the title shot at the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. The highly awaited bout took place in the famous Wembley Stadium, London. After an intense match, Tyson emerged the winner and hence, he became the British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion. The fight was watched by 3 million people worldwide.
• Tyson faced undefeated Neven Pajkic to defend the Commonwealth heavyweight title, which he successfully did. In early 2012, he gave up his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles in order to compete in a world title match.
• In April 2012, he fought for the Irish heavyweight championship against the reigning champion Martin Rogan and won the title. In July 2012, he competed against Vinny Maddalone for the vacant WBO Inter-continental heavyweight title.
• In November 2012, it was announced that Tyson would be competing in a big match, the WBC title eliminator, against the world title contender Kevin Johnson. He won the match and the title shot for the WBC heavyweight title against Vitali Klitschko.
• In February 2013, he competed in his first fight in the USA, at the Madison Square Garden. He won the fight against Steve Cunningham to become the second-ranked boxer in the IBF rankings.
• He had already set himself up for the title shot against Wladimir Klitschko in early 2015. Warming up to the title match, he fought against Christian Hammer and emerged victorious. It was his last fight before he faced Wladimir for several titles held by the latter.
• The highly anticipated fight took place in November 2015 in Germany’s Esprit Arena. After a long fight, which lasted 12 rounds, Tyson emerged as the winner. Hence, he was named the new WBA, IBO, WBO and IBF Heavyweight Champion. However, the IBF heavyweight championship was stripped off from him a few days later.
• Soon after that, the talks of a rematch were ripe. In February 2016, he was charged with doping and consuming drugs when cocaine and nandrolone were found in his samples, which were taken 16 months ago. It also led him to slip into depression and he surrendered his titles in October 2016. He also faced suspension by the British Boxing Board of Control.
• He filed a case against his suspension, which went on for 2016 and 2017 and succeeded in having his license re-instated in early 2018. He made his comeback to the ring fighting against an Albanian boxer named Sefer Seferi and defeated him. After securing one more victory, he became a contender for the WBC heavyweight championship against Deontay Wilder.
• The title match took place in December 2018, which ended in a draw. However, the match was extremely popular and Tyson ended up signing a deal with ESPN and Top Rank for $100 million.
• In June 2019, he won the Inter-Continental heavyweight championship in a fight against Tom Schwarz. Later in January 2020, he won the WBC heavyweight title in a rematch against Deontay Wilder.
• He has also briefly fought as a wrestler in the World Wrestling Entertainment promotion.
• In 2019, he published his autobiography titled Behind the Mask: My Autobiography. Within the 24 hours of its release, the book became the top bestseller on Amazon.

Personal Life

• Tyson Fury married Paris Mullroy in 2008, at the age of 20. The couple has five children together. All three of his sons had the same first name as Prince.
• He is also known for his political opinions. He is openly in support of Brexit and has expressed his desire to run as an independent Member of Parliament.
• He has claimed that he has faced racism for being a gipsy.
• Tyson currently resides with his family in Morecambe, Lancashire.