By Victor Kanayo
Big name fighter Tyson Fury will put his WBC world heavyweight championship on the line on Saturday December 3, 2022 as he fights fellow Briton Derek Chisora in a 60,000 capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London.
After defeating Dillian Whyte with a stunning sixth-round stoppage in front of 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in the spring, Fury said: “This might be the final curtain for the Gypsy King.”
But Fury, born three months premature, weighing just one pound and not expected to live, has been a fighter all of his life. And he just can’t stop.
“For four months I was retired and I was back in that moment when life was very dark and very dull,” Fury told BT Sport.
“I ain’t back boxing for a belt, more money, to win five fights or to unify the division – I’m back boxing because of this,” he added, pointing at his head.
Fury’s battle with mental health problems has been well documented. After he stunned then champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to pick up the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO belts, Fury spent two and a half years out of the ring.
He has since described himself as becoming “a fat pig at 28 stone, drinking and taking drugs on a daily basis” and that he “suffered with depression up to the point of suicide, anxiety attacks, everything, you couldn’t get any lower”.
After that victory over Whyte, Fury, with 32 victories and one draw, felt he was mentally slipping back to how he had been in 2017 and had to act.
His former trainer Ben Davison, who helped Fury lose 10 stone to get back in the ring a few years ago, felt Fury did not expect to fight again.
Since his return in 2018, Fury has fought eight times, including a thrilling trilogy with American Deontay Wilder, but has admitted the gruelling fights are taking its toll.
