Tyson Fury is on the mend after being forced to give up his WBA, WBO and IBO heavyweight belts because of serious depression and is aiming to be fighting again by the end of 2017, according to his cousin Hughie Fury.
Hughie, who expects to fight Joseph Parker for his WBO heavyweight crown in the spring, says the Furys believe they will emulate the Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, by holding two versions of the heavyweight title each at the same time.
“Tyson is in a better place now and hopefully he will be back this year,” said Hughie. “It’s a shame what happened but he should be back and hopefully regaining his titles. He says he has been ticking over, doing a few runs with his family. Hopefully he will get his head screwed on and come back stronger.
“The dream is for both of us to rule the heavyweight division; that is what I’ve always wanted. Hopefully Tyson can get his arse back in gear then we can do it. The plan is when Tyson comes back we get the belts, every one of them.”
Hughie will soon get the chance to begin the process by defeating the big‑hitting Parker and says he is determined to bring the WBO belt, previously owned by Tyson, back into the family. “Tyson was the one who broke all them belts loose for everyone to pick up, and I’m going to bring them back, one at a time.
“Parker is one of the best at the minute in the heavyweight division, so I’m not going to take him for granted, but I’m pretty confident.”
However, Hughie has revealed for the first time that he has been having his own health problems because of a rare type of acne that left him physically wiped out and was so bad it left his sheets stained with blood every night.
“I’ve not been at 100% for my last few fights,” he said. “I’ve had issues, my body has been really bad. Basically it was a rare type of acne called acne conglobata and it poisoned my immune system.
“I only found out after the Fred Kassi fight last April. I’ve had it for all my fights and it was getting worse and worse. I went to see a specialist in Harley Street and he said the type of acne I had used to put people in hospital beds in the olden days. That’s how bad it was. The skin specialist said to me ‘I can’t believe you have been fighting in this condition’.”
He added: “There were times when I wanted to quit boxing altogether. It’s been every single training camp I have had, because I was so tired.
“There was one stage I couldn’t even lift my hands up. My dad sent me home, he said ‘What’s the point of being in the gym?’ Even a 10kg weight I couldn’t get off my chest. I had to look in the mirror and ask ‘Where am I going next? How am I going to fight good fighters when you are only 30-40%?’ It was pointless.”
Fury also said that the acne caused him to have body confidence issues as well as questions from people over whether he was using performance-enhancing drugs. “It was horrific,” he said.
“I would try a shirt on and it would be covered in blood all the time. It was painful – every time I sparred my T-shirt would be soaked with blood, coming from my chest, coming from my back. You can even see it from some of the videos from my fights, it’s pumping out of my back. I was in a bad state.
“Some people thought I was on steroids, but if was I would be a bit better muscled,” he added. “I’d have these Popeye muscles like these other heavyweights. I’ve always been lean.”
However, Fury said that he now felt “100%” better after being treated with Roacutane. “The medication was quite hard, because I was always tired and sleeping all the time, but I got through it,” he said. “It made all the skin soft as well, so I had to toughen that up. If I would have taken a jab to the face I would have been cut. My skin cleared up a couple of months ago and it has not come back.”
