Matt Bozeat - Fighting Back: The Tyson Fury Files

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2019

Pitch Publishing

A2 Yeoman Gate

Yeoman Way

Durrington

BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

Matt Bozeat, 2019

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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library

Print ISBN 978-1-78531-552-7

eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-624-1

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DEDICATION

For Mum, Dad and my perfect little girl Carla Diana

Forever in my thoughts Mum

This book is dedicated to the memory of Hughie Fury because without his friendship, it would have not been possible. I miss talking boxing with you, my friend

CHAPTER 1

Born to Fight

IT WAS the sort of name you dont forget, the sort of name that demands an exclamation mark.

Tyson Fury was coming to box in Hinckley, just a few miles up the road from my flat in Leicester.

Whoever he was.

I went in the corner with a boxer called Phill Fury when he boxed on a club show in Birmingham, he liked what I did and started boxing for us, remembered Nick Griffin, head coach at Heart of England Amateur Boxing Club.

He made the trip down from Preston and every now and then he would bring his cousin with him and he had a few training session with us.

When he was ready to box, I got him matched on our show.

That was in May 2005 in a function suite at Hinckley United Football Clubs ground, the Marstons Stadium.

I remember waiting to see the doctor before I had my medical and this huge shadow appeared behind me, recalled Kieran Pitman, who also boxed on the show.

I turned round and was looking at someones chest. I thought, I hope Im not fighting him.

He wasnt.

Jamie Waddell was fighting Fury.

I wasnt really keen on taking the fight, admitted Ray Revell, Waddells coach at Wellingborough Amateur Boxing Club. But I was struggling to get Jamie matched and he was always fearless.

Pitman was in no rush to swap places with him.

Everyone in the changing room was talking about Tyson, saying, Have you seen the size of him? he remembered.

It was a big changing room and he was dominating it. He was a monster. Everyone was talking about him before he even put his kit on.

Fury also left an impression on Kyle Haywood, another future professional who fought that night.

He was wearing odd boots, one was red, the other blue, said Haywood, and his shorts didnt fit him either.

He looked a real character.

Everything about him was unorthodox. He was a big unit and you just thought, Who is this guy?

I asked someone and they said: Thats Tyson Fury. I thought they were joking. It sounded like a made-up name, a stage name or something. I mean, who ever heard of anyone called Tyson Fury?

Yet there he was, all 6ft 9ins of him.

Some fighters you remember, said Ash Lane, beaten on points by Haywood that night.

I remember Tyson Fury!

It wasnt just his size, he had a real swagger about him as well. Nobody knew who he was, but watching him in the changing room, you could tell he thought he was the kiddy.

Fury eased himself into the ring and, spotting my notebook on the ringside table in front of me, raised his eyebrows in a friendly gesture.

If nobody talked about boxing or wrote about it, Tyson would find something else to do with his time, his late uncle Hughie once told me.

Elsewhere in the room, Pitman was making mental notes.

The lad [Waddell] was tough, he said, but Tyson boxed his head off, gave him a boxing lesson. Tyson wasnt a massive puncher, but he jabbed, moved and made him miss. I remember thinking, Thats how to use your range. He will do all right, hes not bad.

Revell wasnt a fan.

He was talking to Jamie all the way through the fight, he said, trying to wind him up.

He was saying, You cant beat me, you cant even get near me.

I shouted at the referee about it and I got a telling off!

I remember Jamie saying to me after the first round, I cant get close to him and when I do, he holds.

Tyson did box well, he was skilful. But I didnt like him. I thought he was arrogant and a spoiler.

Fury handed Waddell a standing count in the last round, but couldnt force the stoppage and chaos followed the announcement of his unanimous points win.

I heard they were betting on Tyson getting a stoppage in the crowd, said Haywood, and when the fight went the distance, a big row broke out.

Someone got in the ring and tried to give a speech I think and then it went crazy for a few minutes, remembered Sam Bullet Bowen, who went on to win the British super featherweight title as a professional.

Tysons opponent was trying to push his way through to the changing room and I thought, Hes massive, I had better get out of his way!

Order was restored after a few minutes, but the official in charge, Bill Evans, decided to cancel the rest of the show.

I was warming up my lads in the changing room, remembered Griffin, and then I had to tell them they werent boxing after all.

Waddell boxed only twice more, but he did toy with the idea of making a comeback more than a decade later.

Jamie came back to the gym for a few weeks, said Revell, but he didnt stick at it.

I gave him his amateur card because of the name hes got on it. He seemed very matter of fact about it. I said, Not many people can say they boxed a future world champion and youve got the proof.

Jamie didnt seem very bothered. I think he was still upset that he lost.

SO, who was Tyson Fury?

He was a member of the travelling community that was estimated to number around 60,000 across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

They lived in tight-knit communities on caravan sites, working mainly in gardening and construction and maintaining devout religious beliefs.

To Travellers, family pride and honour are everything and traditionally their passions were hunting and fighting.

Every travelling man, born from his mother, wants a fight, simple, said Fury.

If youre not a fighter, youre no good, youre useless.

A Travellers highest ranking, heres how it goes: a fighting man is number one, if youre not a good fighting man, you have to be a good man who can earn a living. So it comes to money.

Then it comes to horses, I think. Ive never been involved with horses because I cant stand them.

Most Traveller boys box as amateurs and at schoolboy, junior and youth level. They tend to dominate but few go on to have successful professional boxing careers.

If you go to any schoolboy championship or ABA finals in the last ten years, 80 per cent of the boxers will be Traveller kids in finals and boxing each other, said Isaac Lowe, who has gone on to have a good professional career, winning the Commonwealth featherweight title.

Sadly, they get to the age of 16 or 17 and go to work or worry about different sides of life.