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| Tyson Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko to become WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion |
TYSON FURY used to spar with his brother Shane in the family kitchen using tea towels as boxing gloves. Yesterday he returned to the UK as the new world heavyweight champion on the Pride of Rotterdam ferry.
Fury, 27, is Britain's eighth world champion after a unanimous points win - 115-112, 115-112, 116-111 - stripped Wladimir Klitschko of his WBA, IBF and WBO titles in Dusseldorf, Germany.
"Shane was my first sparring partner, we grew up together playing boxing and sparring each other in the gym constantly," said Fury.
"From being kids - even when we weren't playing, we'd design world championship boxing kits. It was always my desire and dream to become champion of the world.
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| Tyson Fury in action against Wladimir Klitschko |
"We used to spar in the kitchen because at that time we would only find one pair of gloves in the house, so we had tea towels, dish cloths wrapped around our hands.
"They were my dad's old gloves from when he used to train. They were all stinky and sweaty and we used to have one glove each and one tea towel each and we used to spar full on.
"We used to have this rug in the kitchen. It wasn't very big and whoever went off the mat first was out."
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| Wladimir Klitschko's eye was cut by Tyson Fury |
It was then sparring with his dad John - a former pro - that he realised he could one day rise to the top of boxing and win sport's famous prize.
"Even before I had an amateur fight my dad and I would spar in the garden," he said. "My uncle Frank Burton would say, 'I've never seen a heavyweight move like that'. At 14 I was 6ft 5in and 16st with a beard probably. He said, 'you will be heavyweight champion of the world'.
"From the beginning I aimed for the stars and anything less was a failure. And I hit a shooting star and became the heavyweight champion of the world."
Fury was of course the underdog but the real shock was in how he dealt with Klitschko, whose last defeat came against American Lamon Brewster in 2004.
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| Tyson Fury shows off his world title belts |
He did not just turn up in Dusseldorf and catch him with a lucky shot; he outboxed him for 12 rounds and the punch stats backed it up as Klitschko landed almost 100 less punches than his last fight against Bryant Jennings.
And Fury was even able to mock the former heavyweight king by frequently putting his hands behind his back.
There was barely a mark on his face as he wandered around his hotel yesterday morning with Klitschko only landing heavily a handful of times and Fury getting through constantly with the heavier shots.
The only injury he had were huge blisters on his feet thanks to the socks that were "50 for £1" and the movement of a middleweight as he frustrated Klitschko by staying out of his range.
"A defeat is a learning process," said Klitschko, 39. "It's too early to say anything now. It needs to be digested properly. I got beaten and I lost the battle but I did not lose the fighter. The fighter is still inside me. He always has been.
"We'll see how the cookie crumbles, work it all out and let you all know."
'The Gypsy King' himself was worried it could have been a dream - and he had to look on boxing encyclopedia website BoxRec when he woke up yesterday morning to confirm he was Britain's 11th reigning world champion.
"I thought, 'Is this a dream? This better not be a dream and I have to do the fight tomorrow'," said Fury. "Then I realised what I'd done was real.
"I woke up this morning and said, 'New heavyweight champion of the world! That's got a nice ring to it'. I went online and got the picture off BoxRec and it said: "Won, unanimous decision, Wladimir Klitschko'."
Despite a pay day that could reach £4million, Fury promised becoming a world champion would not change him. And he seemed true to his word as he set off in a car with pregnant wife Paris and some friends for a 140-mile drive to Rotterdam where he will catch the ferry to Hull before finding their way back to Morecambe.
The heavyweight champion of the world does not usually load his bags into the car and then catch Pride of Rotterdam ferry. But Fury does not like doing what you would expect.
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