Tyson Fury forced to have surgery in wake of Deontay Wilder fight, father reveals

The WBC heavyweight champion successfully defended his title with a 11th round knockout of the American in October

Tyson Fury has undergone an operation on both of his elbows following his fight with Deontay Wilder, it has been revealed.

The WBC heavyweight champion successfully defended his title with a 11th round knockout of the American in October.

The Brit survived two early knockdowns in the trilogy bout before coming back to win.

And Fury’s father John has now revealed his son had to overcome injuries picked up prior to the fight to prevail.

“It wasn’t a boxing match was it. Tyson was very badly injured going into that fight,” he told BT Sport Boxing. “He had to have chromosome injections into both elbows. He’s since had an operation, six hours all day in hospital having them sorted out.

“I think he had some bone spurs that he had to get removed, he was handicapped from the beginning. The boxing side of it went out the window because I knew he was going to be like that from early on.

“When I seen the look on his eye, I just knew he wanted to seek and destroy. That’s what he did and believe me, it was exciting for the paying public.”

Fury’s preparations for the fight were hampered after he tested positive for Covid in the summer while there was also a health scare for newborn daughter Athena.

John believes those problems ultimately had an impact on his son’s performance in Las Vegas.

“In my mind I knew it was only 50 per cent of what he should because he had too many problems,” he added.

“He had the Covid in July, the problems with his daughter. You can’t get your head straight from that within weeks.

“I could see it was ring rust, 20 months out the ring and he thought ‘okay to hell with the boxing it’s not gonna work, let’s have it, let’s have a war’.

“He stood toe to toe with him. But it shortens careers doesn’t it.”

To watch BT Sport’s exclusive interview with John Fury in full, head to the BT Sport Boxing YouTube channel.