Tyson Fury has revealed that Deontay Wilder’s decision to ‘disrespect’ Mike Tyson gave him the motivation he needed to make a comeback.
After beating Wladimir Klitschko in a major upset in 2015, Fury had ballooned up to 28 stone and looked unlikely to step foot in a boxing ring again.
But Tyson began training in November 2017 and mounted a comeback which led to him being crowned WBC heavyweight champion after he beat Wilder in Las Vegas in February.
Tyson has revealed that he was close to suicide before he decided to reignite his boxing career.
But the 31-year-old, who is due to face Wilder in a third fight before taking on Anthony Joshua next year, says he was also spurred on to return to boxing after watching a video in which the Bronze Bomber questioned Tyson’s record and claimed he could beat Iron Mike in his prime.
‘I started the regain mission to become heavyweight champion of the world again,’ Fury said in an interview with WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman.
‘I phoned up my trainer and said I was ready to train now, I phoned up Frank Warren and said I was ready to make a comeback and he said, ‘yeah, we’ll power the comeback’.
‘That day I got my sweatsuit on and I intended to jog one mile, just one, and I didn’t get half a mile without stopped.
‘I stopped and I walked, and as I was walking I was looking on Instagram of some videos and I saw a video that Deontay Wilder had done and he said that he could knock out Mike Tyson in one round in his heyday.
‘And I thought this is disrespectful because Mike Tyson is 50-odd years old, Deontay Wilder is a young champion in his era.
‘And I thought you know what, for that one comment I’m going to come back and knock you out. ‘And he also said some stuff about me as well, he’s fat, he’ll never make a comeback, he’s too far gone.
