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In
this Nov. 29, 2015 file photo, Britain's new world champion Tyson Fury,
celebrates with the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts after winning the world
heavyweight title fight against Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko in Duesseldorf,
western Germany. Fury has vacated his WBO and WBA world titles to concentrate
on his treatment and recovery from drug use and other personal issues. Fury’s
promotors released a statement early Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016, confirming the
decision. It comes in the wake of his second withdrawal from a rematch with
Wladimir Klitschko after being declared "medically unfit" and
following his admitted bingeing on cocaine and alcohol. (AP Photo/Martin
Meissner)
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Tyson Fury's downward
spiral since becoming world heavyweight boxing champion escalated Thursday when
the British fighter relinquished his titles and had his license suspended over
drug use and medical issues.
Associated Press report continues:
Fury's
promoters said the 28-year-old boxer was giving up his WBO and WBA belts with
immediate effect to focus on treatment and recovery from drug use and other
personal problems.
Hours
later, the British Boxing Board of Control said Fury had been temporarily
relieved of his license "pending further investigation into anti-doping
and medical issues."
The
unbeaten Fury has not fought since beating Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015
to claim the WBA, WBO and IBF titles in one of the most stunning heavyweight
upsets in recent times. He has twice pulled out of a rematch with Klitschko,
most recently ahead of the rearranged Oct. 29 bout after being declared
"medically unfit" by his team.
"I'm
unable to defend at this time and I have taken the hard and emotional decision
to now officially vacate my treasured world titles and wish the next in-line
contenders all the very best as I now enter another big challenge in my life
which I know, like against Klitschko, I will conquer," Fury said in
Thursday's statement.
"I
feel that it is only fair and right and for the good of boxing to keep the
titles active and allow the other contenders to fight for the vacant belts that
I proudly won and held as the undefeated heavyweight champion of the
world," he said.
In
an interview with Rolling Stone magazine this month, Fury said he has been
bingeing on cocaine and alcohol to cope with manic depression.
"I've
been out drinking, Monday to Friday to Sunday," Fury said. "I've
taken drugs, cocaine, on many, many occasions for the last six months."
In
the interview, he also described himself as a "manic depressive" and
said: "I just hope someone kills me before I kill myself."
The
WBO said Monday that it had received a report from the Voluntary Anti-Doping
Agency in the United States showing that Fury failed a drug test on Sept. 22.
The body also said it received information from the British boxing board that Fury
refused to be drug-tested last month ahead of the postponed Klitschko fight.
Fury's
promotional company, Hennessy Sports, said the titles were being vacated
"out of respect for the governing bodies, the sport of boxing and the
heavyweight division."
The
statement said the break will also allow Fury "the time and space to fully
recover from his present condition without any undue pressure and with the
expert medical attention he requires."
Fury
was stripped of the IBF belt soon after beating Klitschko, for not fighting a
mandatory challenger. That belt is now owned by fellow Briton Anthony Joshua,
who could fight Klitschko for the vacant heavyweight titles.
Negotiations
between the two camps are underway.
Fury
has constantly said that he feels he didn't get enough credit for ending
Klitschko's near-decade-long reign as champion, claiming it was partly because
of his Gypsy heritage.
However,
his image has been stained by controversial comments and tweets he has made in
recent years about women, homosexuality and doping.
Fury's trainer and uncle, Peter Fury, said last month that the fighter was at an "all-time low."
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