Tyson Fury’s troubles have been well documented.
The heavyweight champion of the world has had his re-match against Wladimir Klitschko postponed twice, allegedly tested positive for cocaine and has recently opened up on his mental health struggles.
Fury told Rolling Stone magazine he has not trained since May and that he is receiving treatment for depression.
“I’ve not been in the gym for months. I’ve been AWOL. I’ve been out drinking, anything to get me mind off what’s been going on to me.”
“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. I’ve not been in a gym for months. I’ve not been training. I’ve been going through depression. I just don’t want to live anymore, if you know what I’m saying.”
A truly astonishing interview https://t.co/HO5F83blqm
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 5, 2016
Fury also said in the interview he has “done lots of cocaine.”
“Listen, I’ve done a lot of things in my life,” the 28-year-old said.
“I’ve done lots of cocaine. 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.”
That admission, combined with the alleged failed drug test, which reportedly contained traces of cocaine, appears to have prompted the British Boxing Board of Control to take action.
The governing body have scheduled a meeting for October 12 where they will decide, among other issues, should Fury be stripped of his licence to box.
” Cocaine is against the law of the land. We can’t ignore the law of the land. It’s drug use and we will deal with it accordingly,” said Robert Smith, the BBBC general secretary.
“The board meets next week and we’ll discuss it, I’m fairly sure. The meeting won’t be for Tyson Fury alone. We have a meeting on October 12. All of Mr Fury’s recent issues will be discussed at that point, after which we’ll see what we’re going to do.
“He is licensed by us. The sanctioning bodies, the WBO, WBA – they are not governing bodies – they can strip him, declare the titles vacant, or he can vacate them. We deal with the licence so in theory, if we were to suspend him they would have no choice but to strip him because he can’t defend them, can he?”
Ricky Hatton was stripped of his boxing licence in 2010 after being accused of taking cocaine.
However, at this point, Fury’s mental health will, of course, be of greater concern to the boxer and his family.
If you ever need to talk about your mental health, here’s a list of the resources available to all of us.
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