Tyson Fury - The Furious Method: Transform your Mind, Body & Goals

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First published by Century in 2020

Copyright Tyson Fury, 2020

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover credit: Photo Jon Shard

ISBN: 978-1-473-58453-2

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I had to get back up.
I had to show the world that nothing is impossible.
For all the people who suffer with mental health problems, I dedicate this book to you. If I can come back from the brink, you can too. So get back up! Seek professional help.
And lets do this together, as a team.

Warning: sensitive content. If you have been affected by mental health problems and have experienced or are experiencing suicidal thoughts please get professional help immediately a list of mental health resources are available at the end of this book. This book is based on my personal experiences and learnings, and I hope you may find some of my approaches useful. But what worked for me will not work for everyone and I am not an expert, so you may require medication and medical help. In terms of nutrition, if you are considering a ketogenic diet, you should first talk to a doctor or registered dietician. Please consult your GP before changing, stopping or starting any medical treatment.

The author and publishers disclaim, as far as the law allows, any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use or misuse of the information contained in this book.

Its showtime. Nearly midnight in Vegas. My second fight against the big dosser Deontay Wilder, the biggest knockout merchant in boxing history. This is the most hotly anticipated bout here since Lennox Lewis faced Evander Holyfield twenty years ago. Outside its a cool evening; inside the arena its a cauldron of expectation. Theyve had to lock the doors at the MGM Grand Garden to keep people out. A capacity audience of 17,000 people is buzzing, the darkness popping with the flashes of camera phones. At ringside there are celebrities including Michael J. Fox, Magic Johnson, Triple H from the WWE, and the chef Gordon Ramsay the latter two kindly wish me well before the fight. Punters are paying up to 13,000 for a front-row ticket. My fans are singing You big dosser! against the Wilder crowd shouting Bomb squad! I feed off their energy.

I always enjoy coming up with ideas for my ring walks; theyre like my miniature productions. I pick songs and outfits that mean something to me and that people can relate to. My first fight in Las Vegas in 2019 I came out in the stars and stripes outfit Apollo Creed wore in Rocky IV, with James Brown singing Living in America. For my next fight I was boxing on Mexican Independence Day, so I wore a sombrero and had a mariachi band. For tonights battle Im dressed as a king in a crown and cape, sitting on a golden throne and carried into the arena. Im accompanied by the syrupy voice of Patsy Cline singing Crazy an ironic nod to my mental health battles!

Im enjoying every second of the build-up to Fury vs Wilder 2. This is my moment, my chance to be a showman on the worlds biggest stage. The Gypsy King never disappoints. There are no butterflies in my stomach, I have nothing to fear. Mentally, Ive already won this fight, which is most of the battle. Im ready for a twelve-round war or a one-round knockout. Its my time to shine.

Its been fourteen months since me and the Bronze Bomber last danced, which was a controversial draw even though anyone who watched it knows I was the winner. Tonights fight will be a very different story. I know what needs to be done and, like Muhammad Ali, Ive made no bones about telling Wilder that Im going for a KO in two rounds. At last nights weigh-in I clocked in at 19 stone 7 pounds (273 pounds), Wilder at 16 stone 7 pounds (231 pounds), so I have a good forty pounds on him. Hes the heaviest weight hes been in years; maybe hes looking for more strength in our clinches, throwing shots on the inside. Both of us are heavier than we were last time, but theres more to this game than weight. Im the master of mind games and Ive already burrowed deep into his head. At our last press conference a few days ago, I told Wilder: Youre terrified. Your little knees are knocking. Keep that belt warm for me! The upshot was that we ended up shoving one another about the stage. So, come the weigh-in, Bob Arum, my promoter, and the Nevada Commission wisely made the decision to keep us far apart.

There are two things that can happen when a shaken champion like Wilder takes a rematch with a fighter who has schooled him in the ring. Either he does something drastically different in style to redeem himself, or he sticks with the routine that didnt work for him last time and walks straight back into the same nightmare. For this fight, I hear Wilders camp have been working on his precision; hes going need it if he wants to get close to this slippery 6 foot 9 eel. Fourteen months ago, I gave the Bronze Bomber his first taste of trouble with the draw in LA, upsetting the symmetry of his perfect record: thirty-nine wins by way of knockout, no losses, with nineteen of his victims impressively dispatched within the first round. Since then hes added another two knockouts to his record, another one of which was in the first round. But Im the one with the mental edge here, the boxing IQ, the hand speed and fancy footwork. Wilder cant cope with my personality or my fighting skills.

It feels like a million thoughts pass through my head, but I think of the heritage of my fighting family and it calms me; warriors past and present willing me on to make history tonight. You see, I come from fighting royalty and there are Gypsy Kings meaning the best bareknuckle fighter of the Gypsies on both sides of my family. On my dads side, Bartley Gorman was the last in a long line of Gorman Gypsy Kings. For twenty years he ruled supreme from 1972 to 1992 and would take on brawls from all challengers. As a ten-year-old, my dad witnessed him at the Doncaster Races facing up to a mob of thirty men with iron bars, hammers and knives; hed gone there to fight one man, but was ambushed by a gang. One man against thirty. But he didnt cave in, he just kept going, dropping them like flies even as they cut him to ribbons. He had the option to walk away but instead he said grimly to himself, this is my moment of truth.

Now this is my moment against Wilder. It feels weird not having my former trainer Ben Davison with me, as wed become an inseparable team. I wouldnt be here without him, as he helped me so much during my comeback from the depths of depression. Were still the best of mates, but for certain fights you need different styles and what I did before against Wilder back in late November 2018 clearly wasnt enough to win conclusively (though most scorecards had me ahead). To nail this fight and finish it the way I want to up close and toe-to-toe Ive had to channel something else: aggression. And nobody does controlled aggression like the legendary Kronk Gym in Detroit. The battered heavy bags Ive destroyed and knocked off their hooks are evidence of the explosive style Ive been developing. Lets see if the dosser still calls me pillow fists at the end of this fight!