I survived an assassination attempt after being shot, I’m not afraid of Tyson Fury and will KO him, says Mahmoud Charr
MIRACLEMAN Mahmoud Charr refuses to be intimidated by Tyson Fury - having overcome far more devastating fights in his life.
The Germany-based, Lebanon-born Syrian is in talks to face Fury in December, after negotiations with Anthony Joshua broke down.
Charr at one point was considered the forgotten man of the heavyweight division, despite remarkably escaping death.
The 37-year-old survived an assassination attempt in 2015 and amazingly returned to the ring nine months later.
So he finds it fitting comeback king Fury - who beat depression to win back the world title - wants to fight him.
Charr told SunSport: "Fury, the Gypsy King, and me, the Arab King, have one thing in common: we both never give up.
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"Fury had severe depression, wanted to take his own life. My life was almost taken. I survived a shot in the stomach.
"I decided to have two hip operations in one evening. After that, I became a world champion.
"Fury and I are ambassadors for never giving up, believing in yourself and fighting for your dreams. A person without a dream has no life."
Even before Charr was shot four times in the stomach, he had to overcome hardship, fleeing from civil war that claimed his father’s life.
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The boxer spent time in prison in his teenage years, before turning his life around with a career in the ring.
Charr said: "I survived a bullet in the Libyan civil war when I was four years old. I lost my father in that war.
"In Germany, I spent a total of three or four years in prison. I had a very hard life, had no money.
"I was always on the street, having to struggle, fight my way through life.
"Finally, it was martial arts that taught me discipline and made me a better person.
"Yes, I have experienced a lot. The abdominal shot I mentioned, the bilateral hip surgery.
";I am probably the only professional athlete who is still active with two artificial hip joints and plays so far above."
Charr was 28–4 when his life was almost taken from him, following a cowardly assault from a Facebook troll.
The attacker had been provoking the fighter online, posing videos of his losses on social media.
But when Charr offered to face the man behind the screen in person, he was subject to a drive-by shooting in a kebab shop in Essen.
He miraculously survived and lived to see his shooter, Youssef Hassan, sentenced to five years in prison.
Charr had two tune-ups fights afterwards but later needed a double replacement, undergoing surgery in 2017 at the age of just 32.
The same year, he went on to win the WBA's secondary world title and has won his last five bouts.
Charr's biggest fight to date was a 2012 loss to Vitali Klitschko, but challenging for Fury's WBC crown would top that.
And despite the British star's unbeaten record and fine winning-form, Charr remains unnerved, after conquering much more outside the ring.
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He said: "I am not afraid of anyone.
"Fear is a feeling and feelings can be controlled. Fear exists only in your mind.
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"Everyone who knows me knows that I would even fight a T-Rex. I will knock out Tyson Fury in four rounds."
