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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Kyle O'Sullivan

Tommy Fury's family woes - dad walking out and Tyson's threat over surname change

Living in the Fury family can be tough - as Love Island star Tommy has frequently found out.

Tommy has always been in the shadow of boxing world champion brother Tyson Fury - and has faced and uphill battle in proving he is a successful boxer in his own right.

He's also had to deal with the criticism of outspoken dad John Fury, who has caused his son embarrassment and landed him in hot water numerous times.

Most recently, Tommy was forced to pull out of a second fight date with American rival Jake Paul due to a visa issue that saw him turned away at the airport last weekend.

In a strange twist, John claimed that his son "wasn't exactly in training", then Tommy dared to challenge his dad by sensationally hitting back at the "bulls***" allegation.

Here is a look at all the Fury inter-family fighting and how Tommy has often been humiliated.

Love Island snub

Tyson warned Tommy not to go on Love Island (ITV/REX)

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After years of watching his older half-brother in the ring, Tommy stepped into the limelight when he walked into the Love Island villa in 2019..

But the Gypsy King had actually tried to talk Tommy out of signing up for the show, warning it would ruin his fledgling boxing career if he got "carried away" in the showbiz world.

"I thought, he’s a good looking lad," confessed Tyson back in 2019. "He might get carried away being a TV reality star rather than a fighting man – and it's the last thing he needs to do when he's trying to become a professional fighter.

"I said, 'Nah, it won't be a good idea that, you’ll mess up what you’re doing in your career. You’re on a roll, keep with boxing.'"

Despite trying to discourage his brother from going on the dating series, Tyson admitted his brother was "smashing it".

Many Love Island viewers were convinced Tyson would rock up in the villa during the friends and family episode, but the boxing champ was nowhere to be seen.

When asked why he didn't go during an Instagram Q&A session, Tyson confessed: "I would of (sic) loved to but I am in training camp.

"People do not realise the sacrifices made to reach the top level... not just in boxing but anything you aspire to do."

Tyson would go on to meet Tommy's girlfriend Molly-Mae Hague, who she described a "lovely", and has also formed a close bond with the boxer's wife Paris.

John walks out in row

Tommy training with dad John (Birmingham Mail)

John started to take a more active role in Tommy's boxing career - but walked out of their training camp in August last year.

The pair were at loggerheads because Tommy wanted to attend the wedding of Molly-Mae mother's mum, but his dad told him he couldn't go because he was in camp.

When Tommy defied his father's orders, John got so angyr he quit his son's training team just six weeks his clash with Anthony Taylor.

John compared his relationship with Tommy and brother Tyson to Joe Calzaghe and his late father Enzo, who had a coach-fighter relationship but would constantly bicker.

"We had a blow-up the other day," John told BT Sport's Steve Bunce. "He went to his girlfriend's mother's wedding and I told him not to go, I said 'we're in camp, if you're going to do that I'm out of here!'

"I left for two days, it takes me two days to calm down because all these people don't know nothing about the fight game.

Jake Paul talking to Tyson, Tommy and John Fury (Stephen Dunkley/Queensberry Promotions)

"They're reality TV people, they know nothing about where I'm coming from and it upsets me because you can only do one thing in the boxing world and that's perfect what you train to do.

"They don't call it training for nowt, you can't go for a party and then come back, it ain't rehearsal.

"And then you're under the bright lights and everybody there wants to see you get knocked out and everybody's shouting abuse you need to be on top of your game.

"He is on top of his game, with me he is anyway, because if he didn't want to train how I want to train I'd say 'there's the door, go through it,' and I'd be out of there."

After two days of sulking, John decided he had made his point and returned to Tommy's team.

Tyson surname threat

Tommy and Tyson have always supported each other (Collect Unknown)
Tyson said he would not allow Tommy back in the UK if he lost (Instagram)

There was a lot of pressure on Tommy to beat Jake Paul in the ring - and it mainly came from his own family.

Tyson said he would force his little brother to change his surname if he lost to the YouTube star.

In October last year, Tyson told Boxing Social: "If Tommy can't splatter Jake Paul, I'll retire him from boxing myself. If he can't beat Jake Paul, forget about boxing.

"Because he's got ambitions of being a world champion, never mind beating some YouTube guy. But it's a great fight for the social media world and for all the kids out there who support them both.

"It's a great fight to watch, it's a spectacle. But Tommy – his name's Fury. If he can't beat Jake Paul, I'll have to change his name."

If that wasn't enough, Tyson also claimed he would not allow Tommy to come home if he lost to Paul.

In November, he stated: "I think Tommy will knock him out. No disrespect to Jake Paul, but like I said to Tommy, if he can't knock Jake Paul out, fly to a foreign country and stay there because he ain't coming home."

John also made things awkward when he went on an X-rated rant about "f***ing Jake's girlfriend like a dog" during Tommy's press conference.

John's humiliating confession

John Fury has not attempted to hide his dislike of Jake Paul (PA)

Tommy claimed he was forced to pull out of the Jake Paul fight due to visa issues - and was turned away from the airport when he attempted to travel to the States for the press conference.

Furious Jake Paul, who has now seen Tommy withdraw from fighting him on two separate occasions, sent a "termination notice" to Tommy and cancelled their bout.

Paul will now face Hasim Rahman Jr on August 6 at Madison Square Garden instead after Tommy rejected an offer to right in the UK for a much smaller purse.

Tommy has assured everyone he has a legitimate reason for not being able to fight, but his dad has awkwardly claimed he was not in the best condition.

John said his son was having a less-than-ideal camp before the bout was cancelled, especially as his own involvement in training was limited due to touring with Tyson, and he had ballooned to 231lb.

"Tommy wasn't exactly in training," John told DAZN. "He'd only had about 10 days because he'd been on holiday and it was a surprising thing for him. I was a way out of it doing these tours and being busy elsewhere so I never got the chance to look at it properly. When I've paid attention, I noticed the whole thing wasn't right anyway.

"But I said 'Okay, it is what it is, if you want to go over there and box him, do it. You're experienced enough now and it's a 50-50 platform. I know you could be fitter, you're overweight, but it's entirely up to yourself because I'm busy and I can't do it.' So, he said 'Okay then, I'll do my own thing and I'll go fight him anyway because I can beat him.'"

WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE

However, Tommy has hit back at his own father's allegations by branding them "bulls***".

The agitated Love Island star posted a very defensive video on Twitter in which he vented his frustrations at 'social media' users, but failed to acknowledge his dad was responsible for fuelling the fire.

"Recently on social media I've seen more s*** on me than ever," he started his rant with.

"I want to get one thing straight, the reason this fight didn't take place is because I couldn't get in the country, not because I wasn't training or wasn't fit. I was ready and raring to go, I was at the airport on Monday morning with my whole team, ready to fly out and get the show on the road.

"I could. not get into the country and that's why the fight didn't happen, so all this bulls*** about me not being ready and not training, forget about it. If it's not come from me, don't believe it because it's not the truth."

What happens next remains to be seen, but it seems unlikely that Paul will waste more time or effort setting up a fight for a third time.

As for Tommy, hw might have to focus his attention on sorting issues within his own camp.

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