How Tyson Fury lost 10 stone – the equivalent of Ricky Hatton – in the build-up to his heavyweight clash with Deontay Wilder
TYSON FURY has lost the equivalent of Ricky Hatton in weight.
The 6ft 9in heavyweight is 10st lighter than he was during his dark days 18 months ago.
Back then the Gypsy King was chasing 20 pints of lager a night with whiskey and vodka.
He was gorging on pizza, kebabs and packs of chocolate and tipped the scales at a whopping 28st.
Yet he still felt empty.
Having fulfilled his lifetime ambition of becoming heavyweight champion of the world, by dethroning Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, Fury felt emotionally hollowed out and reacted by stuffing himself with rubbish.
It took suicidal thoughts to snap him out of his orgy of greed.
And now, after 18 months of hard work, he fights Deontay Wilder for the WBC title in the early hours of Sunday.
Fury said: “I’ve always had a nutritionist and I’ve always had a strength and conditioning coach.
"If I want to train and fight, I do it, and if I don’t want to, I don’t do it.
“A pack of wild horses can’t make me do what I don’t want to do.”
It was not as simple as “eat less, move more” to get in the right shape to face Wilder.
The 30-year-old has stuck to strict diets but still eat fats in moderation — and even gets eggs and bacon for breakfast.
He also downs PINTS of black coffee to help taper his hunger and focus his mind.
Cheat meals are allowed, but Fury is no longer permitted his favourite fish ’n chips as spuds are bad news.
His pal Timothy Allcock has been appointed camp chef for his stay in the USA and there are plenty of ‘good training fats’ on the menu, including avocados, nuts, cheese, fish and meats.
But pasta, cereal, rice, beans, lentils and most fruits are strictly banned.
Oh, and it’s taken some serious training to drop to around 18st.
Strength and conditioning coach Kristian Blacklock revealed: “Our weekly schedule has generally been the same for a year — two sessions a day during the week, one on a Saturday, then rest till Monday.
“It’s just repetition, there’s no magic formula, it’s just consistency.
“The weight came off quite early but there are different phases to every training camp.
“You don’t do a huge amount of very heavy weight-training in the last week.
“That’s done early in the camp then you go faster and sharper in the middle and then just try and peak for fight night.”
Fury also enlisted the help of nutritionist Greg Marriott, who set him up on a ketogenic diet that is high in natural fats but low on carbohydrates.
And sponsors Applied Nutrition loaded the challenger up with a pile of supplements and natural fuels.
Marriott said: “A ketogenic diet consists of high fats, minimal carbohydrates and some protein. He’s on 3,500 calories per day.
“For example, if you have 1,000 calories but you expend 1,000 in the gym, you’re on nil. When you try to cut weight without enough calories you hit the wall, and you fatigue.
“This is where lots of fighters come unstuck.
“Tyson needs to be on 3,500 calories a day but, when he’s expending 2,000 calories in the gym, he will need to be on 5,500 calories a day.
"You can then start cutting weight — this is the healthy way to do it.”
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Fury drafted fellow traveller Isaac Lowe into camp for his LA showdown with Wilder — and his mate will also compete on the Staples Center undercard.
The 5ft 7in featherweight does not look like much of a training partner for man mountain Fury, but he has played a pivotal role as a motivator.
Lowe said: “Me and Tyson are like brothers — we have trained alongside each other for all of our lives, we keep each other going.
“When you have to train every single day on your own it can be very hard.
“When you are down, hungry and tired, you need someone who can help you and get you to carry on.
“A trainer and a coach can only do so much in terms of motivating a fighter.
"What me and Tyson do is challenge each other and push each other — and we create a bit of competitiveness in training and that makes things easy for us.”
Fury spent his first month in America living and training 7,000ft above sea level at The Summit gym, atop Big Bear mountain in California.
He struggled with the altitude and the thin air, before moving down to the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood and an atmosphere similar to the one he will fight in.
His running has been done up in the Hollywood hills and Allcock claims they have had the same dinner every night while in camp.
Come the weekend, it is Wilder’s 40-fight unbeaten record that will be on the Gypsy King’s menu.
Fury insists that, just by being fit and healthy again he has already won.
And when you look at how much he has changed, it’s hard to disagree.