Tyson Fury says Deontay Wilder thinks he’s fighting some fat English idiot – but he doesn’t know what he’s got himself into
The Gypsy King says he'd give everything - 'my life. All my money' - to beat the American champ on Saturday night
MAYBE Tyson Fury is one of those people who just wants to watch the world burn.
If he rips the WBC heavyweight belt from Deontay Wilder on Saturday, it will be slung in a cupboard with the rest of his gold.
The millions of pounds he will bank will apparently be handed out to the poor and homeless to stop it spoiling his children.
All of it makes you wonder why he is putting himself through this again — the 10st weight loss, the nine weeks away from home, the loathed interviews, the boring diet.
The answer, it seems, is to prove his doubters wrong, to upset the established order and create a little chaos.
Fury, 30, roared: “Wilder’s made the biggest mistake of his life letting me talk him into this fight.
“I told Frank Warren to tell them I was just coming back for the money but Deontay has no idea that all I want is to win this fight.
“I have to win this. I would give everything. My life. All my money. Everything.
“If this room we’re in was mine and it was filled to the ceiling with diamonds, I would give them all to win this fight. When I want to win this much, I cannot lose.
“They’ve bitten off more than they can chew. They think I’m in it for a few quid but I could not care less about money.
“They think they’re fighting some fat English idiot but they don’t know what they’ve let themselves in for.”
The Gypsy King left his four children and pregnant wife Paris at home for two months while he is in the US promoting and preparing for this fight.
He missed his ten-year wedding anniversary last week, sending flowers as a substitute for his 6ft 9in self.
But he claims the sacrifices he has made have created a starving animal — giving him his first advantage over American world champ Wilder.
Speaking in a private room at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, former heavyweight king Fury said: “He’s been at home, making love to his wife and having nice dinners. I have been living in a hole on my own.
“He’s been playing with his kids and having them jump all over him. You can’t be playing daddy and be training to be heavyweight champion of the world.
“He hasn’t had to do what I have done. He’s been living a normal life at home while I have been starving myself and training.”
He has no idea if it will all be worth it. Minutes after dethroning Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, Fury cut a desolate and deflated figure on the cusp of what would prove to be a total breakdown.
Ironically for a man who has battled drink, drugs and depression, there is an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting room next door to where Fury is speaking.
Fury recalls how hard he found it when he had achieved his childhood dream of becoming a boxing world champion aged just 27 and was left utterly empty.
He knows it could happen again in the early hours of Sunday if he beats Wilder.
Fury, head scalped and sporting a long beard, said: “How am I going to read the future unless I’m a fortune teller?
“You can only see what’s in front of you.
“If you feel down, you feel down — you get on with it.
“Once you’ve had mental health problems they never go away. They’re incurable.
“You’ve got to manage it and that’s what I’m looking for.”
He also admits he does not know how his mental health issues might affect his performance.
Fury explained: “If I feel good on the day I’ll do great. If I feel terrible it will be a stinker.
“My whole performance is a feelgood factor — the better I feel the better I fight.
“I won’t know until I’m in the ring. Sometimes in the gym you feel great, sometimes you feel terrible. It’s just a boxing fight. You win some, you lose some, you knock people out, you get knocked out. But I’ve never been beaten or been knocked out.”
Neither has Wilder. The man with the perfect 40-fight record says he will transform this weekend, every personable trait inside him will become dulled and he will become his alter ego, the Bronze Bomber.
That metamorphism will be confirmed when the 33-year-old slides on a new, custom-made gold mask that signals he is in ‘fight-to-kill’ mode.
But Fury insists he has no need for demons and masks when he has God alongside Ben Davison, Ricky Hatton and Freddie Roach in his corner.
The Brit, who has won all 27 of his pro fights, said: “I have the same underpants, the same hair style, the same beard. I don’t need to change.
“Deontay says that he needs alter egos to help him in fights, and friends from the other side and all that sort of rubbish. Good luck to him.
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“I hope he brings a legion of demons into the ring with him because it’ll be no good to him.
“Every demon he brings into the ring will be punished with him, because I bring the light and he who practices evil cannot stand in the light.
“If he brings alter egos and I bring God, I’ve won.
“If he brings a legion of demons in with him, it doesn’t matter.”
BT Sport Box Office will exclusively show Wilder v Fury live in the early hours of Sunday. It is available to buy for £19.95. Find out more at