Tyson Fury ‘wasn’t himself’ during his heavyweight title defeat to Oleksandr Usyk according to a member of his coaching team after the boxer’s wife Paris suffered a tragic miscarriage the day before their fight in May.
The Gypsy King will fight Usyk for the second time on Saturday, December 21, where he will attempt to regain his crown and become a three-time world heavyweight champion.
Usyk inflicted a first-ever career defeat on Fury in May as the Ukrainian convincingly became the undisputed world champion, but it later emerged that tragedy had struck the Englishman’s camp just a day before the fight.
Fury and Usyk faced off in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, – the same venue for their rematch – but the Gypsy King’s wife, Paris, was absent.
Her absence was unusual as Paris typically accompanies Fury during his fights, often ringside and in the ring with him in victory, but she was noticeably missing from perhaps the biggest fight of her husband’s career.
It later emerged that she had tragically miscarried their son six months into the pregnancy on the eve of Fury’s fight against Usyk, but only told him afterwards – only for the Manchester-born boxer to later reveal that he knew deep down because she wasn’t. t present in Riyadh.
Tyson Fury ‘wasn’t himself’ during his heavyweight title defeat to Oleksandr Usyk according to a member of his coaching team
Usyk handed Fury a first-ever defeat of his career in May as the Ukrainian became the undisputed world champion
Fury later revealed that his wife, Paris (left), had suffered a miscarriage the day before he lost to Usyk
Now one of Fury’s coaches and lifelong friends – Andy Lee – has revealed the impact the miscarriage had on the heavyweight superstar heading into the mega-money fight.
“Tyson never talked about it. He never said anything about it but he was very quiet,” Lee told The Sun.
“Even on the day of the fight in the afternoon, the fight is happening there so late, it must have been about 6 or 7 p.m., we all went for a walk and he was very quiet.
“When Tyson entered the ring, I saw someone who was a little bit excited and I think maybe all those little things that were going on leading up to the fight were going on in his head, or maybe just that little bit. of concern for him,” he added.
“If you watch the fight back, I see that he wasn’t really himself before the fight. As usual, he is completely in himself.
“So just an interesting insight, something that immediately struck me when he stepped in the ring,” the trainer said.
Tyson and Paris have been married for sixteen years and have seven children together, but they have dealt with heartbreak in their family several times.
Paris gave birth to a stillborn baby in 2014 and suffered a miscarriage four years later. She learned of her miscarriage on the same day Tyson made his long-awaited comeback after three years in the ring against Sefer Seferi in June 2018, but only told her husband after he raised his hand.
One of Fury’s coaches and lifelong friends – Andy Lee (left) – has revealed the impact the miscarriage had on the heavyweight superstar
The couple have seven children, but Paris previously gave birth to a stillborn baby and suffered another miscarriage
Fury only revealed the devastating news of their latest miscarriage in October, but would not use it as an excuse for his defeat to Usyk, saying: ‘Whoever got them, she lost on the Friday of the fight. That was pretty s****y.
“I’m not making excuses, but she was six months pregnant, it’s not like a minor miscarriage at first, you have to physically deliver a dead child on your own while your husband is abroad.
‘I couldn’t be there for her at that moment. And that is hard for me. She said she couldn’t come and I asked her what was wrong and asked her to tell me but she didn’t want to.
“So I knew, I knew, I knew there was a problem. I said to my brother, ‘She lost that baby.’
“She never told me she had lost the baby, but I knew,” the 36-year-old former world champion added.
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