TYSON FURY INTERVIEW: Gypsy King accuses Oleksandr Usyk of being a ‘cheat’ as he reveals his wife Paris stopped speaking to him after his ‘selfish’ decision to make FIFTH boxing comeback
No one in Tyson Fury’s inner circle wanted him to return to the ring, and they made that clear by blocking him for a while.
‘My father stopped talking to me for a while. My siblings stopped talking to me, even Paris. Everybody cut me off,” Fury says of what happened after he opted to end yet another retirement and fight again. ‘Nobody wanted me to come back and they made that clear… but it’s my decision and my life.’
The decision is now final. Fury will face heavy-hitting contender Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on April 11, topping a major card supported by The Ring Magazine.
But when Fury explains why he returned, the story begins not with belts or future opponents, but with home conflicts.
‘It’s my decision, but it’s probably a bit selfish,’ he says. ‘I’m at my happiest when I’m in that ring entertaining people and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. I’d say I’ll probably keep fighting until I’m 50.’
Retirement has always been a flexible concept at Fury. This is his fifth return. He talks about fighting not as a career imperative, but as a necessity, as something chosen, not necessary.
No one in Tyson Fury’s inner circle wanted him to return to the ring, and they made that clear by blocking him for a while.
Fury speaks to Daily Mail Sport’s Charlotte Daly ahead of Arslanbek Makhmudov return
The Gypsy King will face Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 11
‘I came back because I chose to come back. I chose boxing because I love boxing. I don’t box because I’ve spent my money and have to risk my health to make a pound. ‘I understand people want me to move on, but it’s just one of those things I can’t do.’
The idea of moving on became a fault line in our conversation as we discussed his fiercest rivalries.
I set Fury a specific scenario. We spoke to a sports psychotherapist to analyze Deontay Wilder’s explosive interview on talkSPORT; Wilder reacted angrily when various explanations he offered for his defeats against Fury were challenged.
The expert’s opinion was clear: Wilder will never return to his previous level unless he fully internally accepts that he is defeated.
He argued that acceptance was the only way for elite fighters to reset psychologically after a defeat.
I then asked Fury directly: By the same logic, did he accept his defeat against Oleksandr Usyk?
The response was immediate and provocative.
‘He never beat me. He cheated. The man cheated. Rockets were fired into his ass. He cheated. I will never admit that you beat me. He’s a fraud and he’s intimidating everyone.’
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Fury insists he did not lose to Oleksandr Usyk and describes Ukrainian as ‘cheat’
Fury has provided no evidence to support the allegations and no wrongdoing against Usyk has been established (pictured above)
Daily Mail Sport was given exclusive access to Fury ahead of Monday’s press conference
Asked if he truly believed Usyk was cheating and what he meant by that, Fury didn’t retreat behind diplomacy.
‘Is he a fraud? Yes. He cheated. He’s a total fraud. I don’t need a psychologist to help me get over these defeats because they weren’t defeats. ‘And I don’t need a psychologist to tell me to quit in 2024, I figured it out myself.’
This is a complete rejection not only of the official conclusions but also of the psychological premise behind the problem.
While the therapist’s model is based on validation and processing, Fury takes a very different path; it completely reframes the consequences and eliminates the need for any emotional compromise.
He still insists that power remains in his hands.
‘Mark these words, the rabbit will be begging GK to kneel and fight by the end of the year.’
Fury has provided no evidence to support the allegations and no wrongdoing has been established against Usyk.
If Fury won’t concede even an inch to Usyk, he shows the same determination when discussing Deontay Wilder. In his opinion, time, punishment and distance (much more than just mentality) explain where Wilder stands now.
Fury is preparing for an organization that has become a tradition with Claudio Lugli’s founder Navid Salimian
Fury says Deontay Wilder will never return to the same fighter he was before the trilogy
‘He’ll never get back to where he was, because I ripped him apart twice, literally taking years off his life,’ Fury says.
‘And the fact that he’s 40 years old, the sun is gone for him… He can never go back to his old place again.
‘Look, it’s very simple. It’s past its prime, it’s like it’s past its sell-by date. $1000 for a steak if you get the best steak ever. Leave it in the refrigerator for a week, then it will deflate.
‘You will not eat it. You’ll never get it back. ‘You can’t make him younger unless there’s a youth serum that I don’t know about, and that’s what happened to Wilder.’
In Fury’s telling, his trilogy, particularly his third bout, was a decisive turning point.
‘Deontay Wilder is done in 2021 after the terrible destruction I inflicted on him in the third fight. This must have been the curtain for him. But he spent all his money and made bad decisions, so now he has to go back; He’s fighting in his 40s, risking his health and everything else. So this situation is sad. But I hate to say it, but I told you so.’
For Fury, all of this (Usyk, Wilder, the critics, the retirement talk) is secondary to one simple fact: He fights because he chooses to fight on his own terms.
‘I’ve been through it all, I’ve seen it all and I’m still standing,’ he says. ‘Records, belts, opinions… these don’t change what I do in the ring. I fight when I want, I fight how I want, and I fight for myself. That’s it.”
Daily Mail Sport has contacted Usyk for comment.
