Troubled heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury has not trained in months. He's also fighting depression, has suicidal thoughts and a drinking problem, and has, in his own words, "done lots of cocaine. Lots of it."
Fury made the admissions Monday in an interview with Rolling Stone that was posted on its website Tuesday. At the time of the interview, Fury said he had been sober for three days.
"Listen, I've done a lot of things in my life. I've done lots of cocaine. Lots of it," Fury said in the interview. "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 f--- has that got to do with anything?
"That ain't a performance-enhancing drug. Am I not allowed to have a life now as well? Do they want to take my personal life off me, too? 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. I've had total enough of it. They've forced me to the breaking edge. Never mind cocaine. I just didn't care. I don't want to live anymore. So cocaine is a little minor thing compared to not wanting to live anymore."
Eleven months ago, Fury won the heavyweight title by unanimous decision against Wladimir Klitschko in a massive upset, one of the biggest in history. But it has been all downhill since for England's Fury, who pulled out of a July rematch, claiming a sprained ankle, before the rescheduled Oct. 29 date was canceled two weeks ago.
Asked whether he scrapped the July date because of his problems, as opposed to an ankle injury, Fury said he had.
"To be honest, yes," he said. "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."
ESPN reported that on Sept. 22, the day before Fury withdrew from the October fight, he submitted to a random urine test conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association, which the fighters contracted with to handle testing. The test was ultimately positive for cocaine.
Now Fury risks being stripped of his two world title belts for the positive test, as well as inactivity that seems certain to go beyond one year. But Fury (25-0, 18 KOs), 28, clearly has bigger issues in his life right now than whether he keeps the belts.
"I'm going through a lot of personal demons, trying to shake them off," Fury told Rolling Stone. "This has got nothing to do with my fighting. What I'm going through right now is my personal life. ... They say I've got a version of bipolar. I'm a manic depressive. I just hope someone kills me before I kill myself."
Fury said he was training in Holland this past May but was overwhelmed by depression and stopped.
"From that day forward, I've never done any training," Fury said. "I've been out drinking, Monday to Friday to Sunday, and taking cocaine. I can't deal with it, and the only thing that helps me is when I get drunk out of me mind."
When Fury attended the Deontay Wilder-Artur Szpilka heavyweight title bout in January at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, he was seen by many, including media members, at an after party in the arena. Fury was drinking heavily.
"I'm in a very bad place at the moment," Fury said. "I don't know whether I'm coming or going. I don't know what's going to happen to me. I don't know if I'm going to see the year out to be honest. I am seeing help, but they can't do nothing for me. What I've got is incurable. I don't want to live. All the money in the world, fame and glory, means nothing if you're not happy. And I ain't happy. I'm very far from it."
In the interview, Fury, who also faces a November hearing for a failed drug test for the steroid nandrolone in a fight before he faced Klitschko, blamed many of his problems on a "witch hunt" since he won the title. He said it's because of his heritage.
"Because of my background, because of who I am and what I do -- there's hatred for Travelers and gypsies around the world," said Fury, an Irish Traveler, which is a group of about 40,000 nomadic, religious people who live throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom and fight among themselves for sport. They have been persecuted for centuries.
Fury said he thought there was some sort of conspiracy to get him out of boxing.
"They've tried to get me chucked out of boxing because they cannot tame me, they cannot hire me, I'm not for sale, no one can turn a key in my back, no one can do nothing to stop me," Fury said. "So now they're saying I took some cocaine and whatever. Listen, if I had some smack, I'd take it. If I had heroin, I'd take that, never mind cocaine, for what they've done to me. It's a travesty what they've done.
"I want to expose them for what they are. The British Boxing Board of Controls is in on it too. They're all in it together. The drug-testing companies are in on it as well."
The British Boxing Board of Control on Wednesday said it would have a meeting on Oct. 12 to decide whether to withdraw Fury's license.
"All of Mr. Fury's recent issues will be discussed at that point, after which we'll see what we're going to do," BBBofC general secretary Robert Smith told PA Sport. "... We deal with the license. So in theory, if we were to suspend him, (the WBO and WBA) would have no choice but to strip him because he can't defend them, can he?
"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."
Fury also complained about the frequency of the drug testing.
"They tested me about six times within a few weeks," he said. "Only recently, three days ago last week, they came to my house at 1:30 in the morning, tested me and came back at 9 a.m. to test me again. What is this? Do you understand the treatment I'm getting off these people? They're driving me mad.
"It is crazy that's what's going on, but listen, I don't really care. They've won. They've got what they wanted. That's it. I'm as fat as pig. I'm 285 pounds, 290 pounds. It is what it is. I've been out. I've been an emotional wreck. I've been on a mission. I've been out trying to handle me life."