?If I had some smack I?d take it. If I had heroin I?d take that, never mind cocaine, for what they?ve done to me??
In keeping with the most visible public meltdown in recent heavyweight history, Tyson Fury told Rolling Stone in his ?first and last interview? that he had been snorting cocaine and drinking daily for the past four months while getting ?fat as a pig.?
?I?m going through a lot of personal demons, trying to shake them off,? he said on Monday, adding he has been sober for three days. ?This has got nothing to do with my fighting?what I?m going through right now is my personal life.?
The personal is public and vice-versa and Fury?s indulgences have everything to do with fighting, whether he chooses to admit it or not.
What Fury has chosen to admit, in addition to his excesses, is that he has been victimized because of his background.
?It?s been a witch hunt ever since I won that world title,? Fury told Rolling Stone, ?because of my background, because of who I am and what I do?there?s hatred for Travelers and gypsies around the world.?
Is there anyone who doesn?t feel victimized these days? Whether one is 5-foot-9 or 6-foot-9, no size is too small or too big to be misunderstood and to pin the blame on their confusion on others.
?If I won over 30 fights and knocked out everybody it would be no good,? said Fury. ?I can?t do nothing in my life that?s any good to the general people because I?ll never be accepted for who I am and what I am.?
Everyone accepts Fury for who he is. They may not especially like him, but everyone accepts him. Fury can think what he wants and say what he wants till he?s blue in the face, none of which makes what he says any more true than if he had said nothing at all.
Fury and his family were recently refused service at a restaurant, an indignity which helped push the big man over the edge.
?I?m the heavyweight champion of the world and I?ve been told, ?Sorry mate you can?t come in. No Travelers allowed.??
So go somewhere else. Go to another restaurant. But please, whatever you do, stop complaining. Heavyweight champions of the world do not complain, at least not in my book, and not in such a pitiful fashion.
?They say I?ve got a version of bipolar,? he continued. ?I?m a manic depressive. I just hope someone kills me before I kill myself.?
Fury?s self-pity is off the charts, as is his ego and shaky self-esteem. But it takes all kinds.
Fury says he abandoned his training camp in May because he was depressed.
?From that day forward, I?ve never done any training. I?ve not been in the gym for months. I?ve been AWOL. I?ve been out drinking, Monday to Friday to Sunday, and taking cocaine. I?ve been out drinking, drugging, acting like a lunatic, being a fool.
?If I had some smack I?d take it. If I had heroin I?d take that, never mind cocaine, for what they?ve done to me. It?s a travesty what they?ve done. I want to expose them for what they are.?
?Them? is everyone who is not a Traveler, everyone who doesn?t take cocaine, everyone who doesn?t share his values?everyone who behaves irresponsibly, or irrationally, and scapegoats others in the process.
?I come from a Traveling background, and we suffer the biggest racism and discrimination in the country,? said Fury. ?So you can see my frustration with it all. I get no credit for defeating the second-longest reigning champion in history. Even my own country where I was born and raised hate me. The only thing the press wants to write is negativity. As soon as I won the title I got back off the boat and pick up the newspaper: Tyson done something controversial. It wasn?t.?
The win over Klitschko wasn?t controversial. It was his remarks that turned people off.
?I?ve done lots of cocaine,? admitted Fury. ?Lots of it. Why shouldn?t I take cocaine? It?s my life isn?t it? I can do what I want. Yeah, I have done cocaine. Plenty of people have done cocaine as well. What the fuck has that got to do with anything? That ain?t a performance enhancing drug. Am I not allowed to have a life now as well? Do they want to take my personal life off me too? I?ve been going through depression. I just don?t want to live anymore, if you know what I?m saying. I?ve had total enough of it. They?ve forced me to the breaking edge. Never mind cocaine. I just didn?t care. I don?t want to live anymore. So cocaine is a little minor thing compared to not wanting to live anymore.
?I was a lot happier when I wasn?t the world champion because people wasn?t giving me as much shit. People wasn?t wanting me to do all these bad things so much. Listen I?ve been pushed to the brink. I can?t take no more. I?m in a hospital at the moment. I?m seeing psychiatrists. Everything. They say I?ve got a version of bipolar. I?m a manic depressive. All from what they?ve done to me. All this shit through boxing, through taking titles, through writing me off. I beat the best man but I?m still shit.?
Fury is not shit, but his whining is insufferable.
?I used to love boxing when I was a kid. It was my life. All the way through it was my life. You finally get to where you need to be and it becomes a big mess. And that?s it. I hate boxing now. I wouldn?t even go across the road to watch a world title fight. That?s what it?s done to me. I don?t even want to wake up. I hope I die every day. And that?s a bad thing to say when I?ve got three children and a lovely wife isn?t it? But I don?t want to live anymore. And if I could take me own life?and I wasn?t a Christian?I?d take it in a second. I just hope someone kills me before I kill me self. I?ll have to spend eternity in hell.?
The extraordinary thing about Fury is not his size but his lack of perspective.
?Boxing, I would say, is the most corrupt organization in the whole of sports. My face didn?t fit. I don?t belong in boxing, people like me. It?s so corrupt. And the real people inside of boxing know what?s going on. They know it. They only want people that they can tell what to do and wind the key in the back. Robots.
?It is crazy that?s what?s going on but listen, I don?t really care. They?ve won. They?ve got what they wanted. That?s it. I?m as fat as a pig. I?m 285 pounds, 290 pounds. It is what it is. I?ve been out. I?ve been an emotional wreck. I?ve been on a mission. I?ve been out trying to handle me life.?
Maybe giving lengthy interviews to magazines is the answer.
?I feel more racism now in 2016 than any slave, any foreign immigrant ever did in the 1800s? Why would I want to entertain people who hate me? I?m not gonna go in there and risk brain damage every time I go into a fight for people that don?t give me no credit. All the money in the world ain?t worth it to be trapped how I got trapped.
?I don?t see a way out, I don?t even see a way of living for me, I don?t want to live anymore. It has brought me to the brink of, of death, that?s where I?m at at the moment. It all seems so sad but it is the truth and I really don?t care about boxing or sports or anything about it. I?m just sad that I got involved in boxing in the beginning. Cause I always thought once I get to the top, it will all change, but I knew deep down inside it would never change.?
Fury?s take on history is very much his own, but it takes a strong man to question his feelings.
?I?m finished,? Fury added. ?All the drugs and drink in the world ain?t gonna make me happy no more. Nothing makes me happy anymore because I have gone past the point of happiness. There is no returning for me anymore. I am finished.?
