Tyson Fury’s circle ‘involved’ over how he’s coping with defeat

Friends of Tyson Fury have told of their concern over how the heavyweight boxer is coping with his first ever defeat, after he was filmed being escorted out a bar before collapsing on the street.

The Gypsy King, 35, sparked fresh concern over his welfare on Friday evening after the boozy night in his hometown of Morecambe, Lancashire, which took place three weeks after losing his undisputed world heavyweight title to Oleksandr Usyk.

Tyson – worth a reported £300million – has previously turned to alcohol in a bid to drown out negative thoughts and cope with the baggage which comes with being a high-profile sportsman.

His fans will be hoping the incident inside the town’s Nowhere Bar is an innocent one-off, playing to an admission made during his Netflix reality series At Home with the Furys that it only takes ‘two or three pints’ to make him ‘senseless, speechless and drunk.’

But a friend told MailOnline that given the bender took place in the wake of such a hard-hitting defeat – the first of his career – there is extra concern for his well-being.

Regardless of concerns for his welfare, Fury appeared to shrug off the incident today as he took a seaside stroll along the promenade in Morecambe Bay with his father, John, 59.

A friend of the boxer said: ‘Tyson and alcohol do not mix well.

‘He’s previously used booze as a coping mechanism, which for any sufferer of ADHD is never a good idea.

‘But given he’s been drinking again after such a high-profile defeat, there is a fear within his camp that more than ever, his support network needs to be ready to safeguard him through what could be a particularly testing stage of his life.’

‘He has never lost a professional boxing match before so they’re in uncharted territory in regards to anticipating how he’ll deal with it.’

Seen today chatting with his father, it was the first time the 6ft 9in fighter had been spotted since he was escorted out the town’s Nowhere bar after having one too many drinks. Tyson was later pictured slumped outside the boozer.

An onlooker said: ‘He looked to have recovered from his Friday night session.

‘His dad looked to have a bit of a sweat on so they might have been for a run or done a bit of light training.’

The Gypsy King suffered a well-publicised fall from grace in 2015 following his shock victory over Wladimir Klitschko, which saw him balloon to 28 stone and sparked a three-year absence from the ring.

He sunk into a drink and drug fuelled depression as he struggled to deal with the fame and fortune the shock victory bestowed on him.

According to his wife Paris, the mother of his seven children, the signs had set in the previous year when she noticed his behaviour became erratic when binge drinking, on this occasion sparked by the double cancellation of his planned fight with David Haye in Manchester.

Speaking in her book Love and Fury: The Magic and Mayhem of Life with Tyson, Paris, 34, wrote: ‘Looking back, it was probably his first serious bout of depression.

‘As the disappointment of the Manchester non-event sank in, his mood darkened and he seemed to lose all his focus and motivation. Tyson also developed a drinking habit, which was totally out of character.’

Fury beat Derek Chisora, a late replacement for Haye, before his career-defining win over Klitschko in Germany.

But the sheer magnitude of his shock victory over the Ukrainian, which took Tyson’s career to dizzying new heights, meant he could never celebrate his achievement.

Paris wrote: ‘Once the post-fight euphoria had worn off, within days of returning home to Morecambe, Tyson had sunk into a black hole of darkness and despair.

‘It was as if that glorious night in Düsseldorf, and those gleaming world title belts, meant absolutely nothing to him.’

As his mental health spiralled, he turned to drink and drugs.

He was famously seen downing shots and sinking beers with England football fans in France during Euro 2016 – famously racking up a €1,000 bar bill after buying 200 jagerbombs – and when back on home turf, he was regularly seen ‘trashed’ in Morecambe pubs. He’s been banned from his local, The Hest Bank in nearby Lancaster, three times.

He continued to pile on the pounds and was so out of shape, Tyson was deemed ‘medically unfit’ to take on Klitschko in their planned rematch.

In October 2016 he tested positive for cocaine during a random anti-doping test, which not only threatened to derail his career, but also his marriage.

Paris wrote: ‘I’d never felt so let down in my life – it truly felt like the final straw – and I wondered whether our marriage could survive this huge setback. But, like I’d done so many times before, I told myself to sit tight and ride the storm.’

Now without his rematch, Tyson hit all-time low when he considered attempting to take his own life by driving into a wall at high speed.

Thankfully a voice in his head stopped him from ending it all.

Speaking to Joe Rogan, Tyson explained: ‘I hit the drink, I hit the drugs and I was out all night with the women of the night.

‘I just wanted to die and I wanted to have fun doing it.

‘But when the drink wears off it just leaves you with a bad hangover and even worse depression.

‘When you have a goal in mind from being a child and you achieve it… I was lost, I didn’t know what to do.

‘I was waking up and didn’t want to be alive, I was making everyone’s life a misery; no-one could talk any sense into me at all. I would get very, very low at times and start thinking these crazy thoughts.

‘I bought a brand new Ferrari convertible in the summer of 2016.

‘I was in it on the highway and I got the car up to 190mph and was heading towards a bridge.

‘I didn’t care about nothing, I just wanted to die so bad.

‘I gave up on life but as I was heading to the bridge I heard a voice saying, ‘Don’t do this Tyson; think about your kids, your family, your sons and daughter growing up without a dad.

‘Before I turned into the bridge I pulled on to the motorway. I didn’t know what to do, I was shaking, I was so afraid.

‘I said I’d never think about taking my own life again.’

Hitting rock bottom appeared to inspire Tyson to turn his life around, proved by the boxer completing one of sport’s most remarkable ever comebacks when he transformed his body shape – losing an incredible ten stone – for his return to the ring against Albanian fighter Sefer Seferi in Manchester in June 2018.

After his fourth round victory, he then secured another win, via points, two months later against German boxer Francesco Pianeta at Windsor Park, Belfast, to earn a shot at WBC champion Deontay Wilder.

He drew the first of the epic trilogy in December 2018 in LA, before victories in Feb 2020 and October 2021 – both in Las Vegas – which saw him crowned the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion.

Despite his recent loss to Usyk, and his unconvincing win over UFC fighter Francis Ngannou in October last year, Tyson is still regarded as one of boxing’s biggest names with plenty of fights left in him.

His legions of fans will be hoping his latest blip does not trigger another lengthy boxing hiatus.

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