The 23-year-old giant, Fury, presented himself in London on Monday in a fitter, more muscular shape than ever, even though his British and Commonwealth championship grudge match against Chisora at Wembley Arena does not take place until July 23.
Promoter Mick Hennessy, in addition to a record first bid for a domestic title fight, has negotiated for this event to be screened live on Channel 5. He said: “I expect us to go above 1,5 million viewers and that this will lead Tyson on to pay-per-view appearances in the future on Channel 5’s partner, Primetime.”
Fury, the son of an Irish travelling family, is rising to the stiffest challenge of his young career by self-imposing discipline on his regime, which he expects to take him from nearly 20 stone to barely 18 stone by fight night.
He said: “I know I looked like a fat pig before and I thought I could get away with it because I was big enough to keep winning. But now it’s getting serious and I realise I have to get rid of the junk food.
“I couldn’t go to the cinema without a ton of popcorn, sweets and ice-cream and I would lounge around at home shifting bundles of sugar.“It never looked as if I’d trained as hard as I do. Now I’m only taking in water, meat, fruit and vegetables, I feel so much healthier and stronger.“I also look more the part, which is important to me with the big TV audiences coming.
“When I sparred with Wladimir Klitschko, he looked like a Greek god. I looked in the mirror and saw this flabby lump.
“No longer. I’ve found a way now and will make the sacrifices for the few years it takes me to succeed Wladimir as the world champion.”
Fury was involved in a prefight bust-up with Chisora when they were ringside for the George Groves versus James DeGale upset, but said: “I only ripped off my shirt to threaten him because he hadn’t signed the renegotiated contract. We want to make sure he turns up.”— Daily Mail/Hennesy Sport
