Tyson Fury: My wife Paris had miscarriage day before Oleksandr Usyk fight

Tyson Fury has revealed that his wife Paris lost a child on the eve of his undisputed world heavyweight title fight against Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in May this year.

On stage at the Guildhall in London with Usyk to publicise their rematch which will take place on December 21 in Saudi Arabia, the emotional former world heavyweight champion explained that the miscarriage was “tough” and that he had felt helpless before the fight on Saturday, May 18.

Fury, who has seven children with his childhood sweetheart, explained, when asked if he was planning on having more children: “Never say never, I only have seven,” before adding: “The one that she was having, she lost that on the Friday of the fight [with Usyk], which was pretty s----y.

“I am not making excuses [for losing to Usyk] but she was six months pregnant. It’s not like a small miscarriage at the beginning, you have to physically give birth to a dead child, on your own, while your husband is in a foreign country. I could not be there for her, in that moment.

“And that is tough for me. I have been with the woman for longer than I wasn’t with her in my life, so it is hard that I couldn’t be there with her in that time.”

The 6ft 9in tall, 20st ‘Gypsy King’ added: “When Paris said she couldn’t come over [to Riyadh], I knew there was a problem. She usually comes out on fight week but she said she had high blood pressure. She said she couldn’t come and I asked her what was up and asked her to tell me but she wouldn’t. So I knew there was a problem.

“I said to my brother, ‘she’s lost that baby’. She never told me she had lost the baby, but I knew. When I got back I got the inevitable confirmation that it was gone but she kept it to herself.

“When Paris said she wasn’t coming over on the Friday of fight week, Turki [the Saudi minister Turki Alalshikh] offered us a private jet to get around the high blood pressure and said he would bring the doctor with her. But when I knew she couldn’t fly, I knew there was a big problem. To go through that on your own, that isn’t good.”

‘But it’s not an excuse – hell no’

Fury was insistent, however, that it was not the reason he had lost to the Ukrainian Usyk by split-points decision in a brilliant, see-sawing contest befitting of the first undisputed heavyweight title for a quarter of a century.

“But it’s not an excuse – hell no. I am a man of honour. I do what I have to do, when I am in there. I don’t think about that sort of stuff when I am in that fight. Nothing outside the ring matters, there is no emotion. You think about all that stuff afterwards.”

Fury, whose family life was depicted in the nine-episode Netflix series At Home With The Furys, added: “We have had miscarriages before, and it happens. Will we have any more kids? I don’t know if she’s back to normal from that... only a few months ago, it takes a lot of getting over. It was a boy. But no more of this morbid stuff now because I’ll break down in tears.”

As Fury sat a few feet away from his foe Usyk – who was dressed as Agent 47 from the movie Hitman – the British boxer said he does “not feel that much terror” as he attempts to avenge his only defeat.

“Whether it is round one, round 10 or round 12 with two seconds to go – one mistake, it’s game over with the likes of Deontay Wilder,” Fury said.

“With Usyk, I don’t feel that much terror. There’s no fear there. After he hit me in round nine, how many times did he hit me clean after that, in that round? He caught me with quite a few [and it] didn’t do anything. If I would have had him in that position, I’d have knocked him out. If I’d have been in that position with Daniel Dubois, I’d have been knocked out cold.

“He’s a good boxer and he’s a heavyweight, he can punch hard. But there’s different levels to power. One man can switch you off like a TV, and one man can hit you and hurt you and wear you down.”

Fury added: “I’ll make it my time this time. The things we go through in our lives shape what happens. We can only do the best we can do. We are putting on a show, I hope everyone will enjoy this fight, and we will see you all on the 21st of December.”

Usyk, who barely said a word, his head shaved, besuited in black with a red tie and wearing black leather gloves, simply produced a photograph of his left hand landing on Fury’s face in the decisive ninth round of their first encounter. He got Fury to sign it. And that was it. They went their separate ways.

The entente cordiale will be broken when the bell sounds for the 13th round between them in eight weeks’ time.