British professional boxer, Tyson Fury, has opened up about living in Morecambe, his boxing career and his mental health battle in a very honest talk with Gary Neville.
In a YouTube video on The Overlap channel, Tyson and Gary can be seen walking across the sand in Morecambe Bay as Neville asks him some personal questions about his career.
Manchester-born Fury revealed exactly why the coastal town has been the ideal place for his boxing career, likening the area to an infamous prison.
Gary said: “This place brings back memories of when I used to come here when I was younger.
“We always used to come here on a Sunday.”
Addressing Tyson he asked: “Tell me – why [did you move to] Morecambe?”
Tyson added: “First of all - Welcome to Morecambe Bay guys.
“This is the place where the magic happens and where dreams come true.”
He went on to explain that the move to Morecambe happened 13 years ago.
He said: “I just got married and I was just having arguments [with everyone].
“I thought I would go somewhere neutral. My uncle used to live here and he was a boxing trainer.”
Tyson’s uncle asked him to come for a week and get some training in over Christmas. What began as a week stay turned into a permanent move which has lasted 13 years.
Tyson also revealed his hilarious nickname for the area, Alcatraz, which is based on an infamous island in California once home to a federal prison.
“I call it Alcatraz because if you go that way you hit water,” he said pointing at the ocean
“You’ve got to drive an hour to Manchester and an hour to Liverpool
“It’s the last point of civilization for me and I need that.”
He added: “I can’t be in a place that’s thriving everyday and there’s so much to do. I like to be in a place where there’s nothing much to do. Just train, eat, sleep, repeat.”
Fury went on to explain that he thought he would move back to Manchester one day but added his family is “deeply rooted” there now.
Morecambe wasn’t the only topic of discussion on the YouTube video.
He even opened up about the highly-anticipated Anthony Joshua fight which never actually came to fruition.
He told Gary: “I’m not optimistic that the fight will ever happen to be fair. He talks a good game but is he really a fighting man? I’m not sure.”
He went on to talk about the Deontay Wilder rematch court case against him which put a delay on the Joshua fight.
Fury revealed that refusing to fight him would have cost Fury £80m dollars.
He also spoke up about his mental health battle and “downward spiral” after beating Wladimir Klitschko to become world heavyweight champion in 2015.
‘The Gypsy King’explained that he would disappear for days and often took comfort in drinking heavily and eating too much.
He even spoke about attempting to take his own life on one occasion.
Fury said: “I felt like I had conquered the world and there was nothing else that I wanted to do.
“My dream from being a little kid was to beat Klitschko. When I beat him it was game over and I didn’t want to continue.”
He added: "I was mentally unstable. Going into that fight I was very depressed, down and anxious.
“I always had that goal of beating him that kept me on the straight and narrow path.
“After that goal was take away from me I had nothing else that I could focus on to give me that drive.
“it was a total downarrd spiral… I was happy to die at 27.
“It was a dark and lonely place that I never want to go back to.”
You can watch the full YouTube video over on The Overlap YouTube channel.
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