Tyson Fury joins Sports Illustrated's Robin Lundberg to break down his approach coming into his bout with Francis Ngannou, who his favorite WWE fighter is, why he doesn't like wrestling, and more.
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00:00 Tyson Fury versus Francis Ngannou Saturday, October 28th
00:03 on Top Rank ESPN Plus Pay-Per-View in the US
00:06 and TNT Sports Box Office in UK
00:09 and live from Saudi Arabia.
00:11 I'm Robin Lundberg joined by Tyson Fury himself right now.
00:14 And Tyson, why this fight now?
00:17 - Why this fight?
00:18 Seems like a good time to earn a (beep) ton of money
00:20 and knock him (beep) out.
00:22 That's an opening speech right there.
00:24 - There you go.
00:25 When you say knock him out, I know you guarantee that.
00:28 You feel that confidently that that's gonna be
00:30 the end result here.
00:31 Why is that?
00:33 - We always train for knockout.
00:34 Since I've been working with Sugar Hill, the doctor,
00:36 we go for the knockout.
00:39 It used to be outbox a guy, tip-top, pitter-patter,
00:43 run around the ring, miss a million shots,
00:45 look like the Matrix.
00:46 But now we're on that front foot like a 1940s brawler.
00:50 Like a Jack Dempsey cross with a Gene Tunney
00:53 cross with a Max Schnelling.
00:57 That type of a brawler.
00:58 You know what I do damage like a Rocky Marciano.
01:01 Every punch, bang, making them pay.
01:04 - And you think in Ghana is not ready for your power?
01:06 - I don't think anybody's ready for me at all.
01:10 That's why I'm undefeated in 15 years in 34 and 0.
01:12 I'm a linear world heavyweight champion.
01:14 - When it comes to- - That don't count cheap.
01:17 That don't count cheap.
01:19 (laughs)
01:21 - When it comes to the boxing versus UFC thing,
01:23 there's obviously money involved,
01:24 but is there a little bit of a pride thing?
01:26 Because it seems like boxers have gotten the best
01:29 of specifically the boxing matchup.
01:30 - It's not so much pride, listen,
01:33 whether it's in Ghana or Fred Flintstone,
01:36 it'd be the same, you know,
01:37 train for them, go in there, box them,
01:40 beat them up and then go out, get paid, go home.
01:42 There's nothing more to it really.
01:43 You can glitz and glamor up as much as you want,
01:45 but the reality of it is,
01:47 regardless of who the opponent is,
01:50 it's the Tyson Fury show every single time.
01:53 And we go in there, beat a motherfucker up,
01:56 get paid, go home, relax, take the dogs for a walk,
02:00 take the kids to school, enjoy,
02:02 and then on to the next one.
02:04 That's how we do it.
02:06 We call it in the trade, getting paid and getting laid.
02:09 That's what we call it.
02:11 - Well, when you say on to the next one, it's Usyk, right?
02:14 Could it be seen as a sign of disrespect
02:16 that that's already in the plans
02:18 before you've even gotten into the ring with him, Ghan?
02:20 - If you want to take it as disrespect,
02:22 well, you know, it is what it is.
02:23 I'm a prize fighter.
02:24 I schedule some fights.
02:26 That's what we do.
02:28 That's what we do as prize fighters.
02:29 You take one, then you take another.
02:31 Take as many as you can, because it's in it.
02:34 The giveaway is in the title, prize fighter.
02:37 Now, if it was a free fighter,
02:40 then it might take a little bit longer,
02:41 but considering I'm fighting for a prize,
02:44 then I got to go where the prize is, you know?
02:46 - What about your namesake?
02:49 Any message for Mike Tyson?
02:52 I know he's been training with Nganou a bit.
02:54 - Yeah, you know, it's great to have Mike Tyson
02:58 involved in the fight.
02:59 He's done a fantastic job with,
03:02 I was going to say training, then,
03:03 promoting Francis Nganou,
03:05 and he's built this fight up pretty good.
03:08 You know, he's just said some good things
03:09 about the fight now, so it's fantastic
03:12 to have Mike involved.
03:13 So a living legend like Mike Tyson,
03:15 the guy who I'm named after,
03:16 kind of in the same ring as me, which is crazy, really.
03:21 Looking forward to it.
03:22 - There's also been a little speculation
03:24 about you being in a different type of ring,
03:26 but you kind of, you know, squashed that a bit,
03:29 and that was the WWE.
03:30 I saw you say wrestling is too hard.
03:33 For those who may not understand that statement
03:35 at face value, why do you say that?
03:37 - The training for it is difficult.
03:40 Getting slammed on the floor is difficult.
03:42 Getting bounced into the ropes is difficult.
03:45 Getting flipped over upside down on your neck is difficult.
03:48 Like I said, it's a dead giveaway in what I said.
03:51 It's too hard, the training's too hard.
03:53 Boxing is much easier.
03:55 And people think, "Oh, wrestling's fake."
03:57 Of course it's fake!
03:58 It's gotta be fake, right?
04:00 But you try and get slammed on the floor
04:01 from a seven-foot guy, and you're 350 pounds.
04:05 You know, that ain't fake.
04:07 So it's difficult, much more difficult
04:09 than boxing training anyway.
04:11 Not once do I get hurt in boxing training.
04:14 In WWE training, you get hurt every day.
04:18 - Do you have a favorite WWE superstar?
04:21 - Yeah, Tyson Fury.
04:22 - Okay.
04:25 Despite all those words about it being hard.
04:28 Now, I think you've-
04:29 - It is hard, but I didn't say I didn't enjoy it.
04:31 It's very hard, though.
04:33 - Is it gonna be hard for you to beat Francis Ngannou
04:37 on October 28th, top-ranked ESPN+ pay-per-view
04:40 TNT Sports box office in the UK?
04:42 - Let me say it as the Americans would say it.
04:47 I'ma knock him out.
04:49 How's that?
04:52 - Simple as that.
04:53 Look, you gave me the sound bite.
04:54 It's right there on the T.
04:56 (gentle music)
04:59 (upbeat music)