HOPEFUL brawlers would regularly try and tempt Tommy Fury into a fight – before he laid down his pro credentials.
The 21-year-old won his fifth light-heavyweight fight last month and is the latest boxing product of the Fury heritage.
Growing up in Manchester with dad John and future world champion Tyson Fury, he always knew how to handle himself physically.
And Tommy, who shot to fame on Love Island, found his family trade kept him out of trouble at school.
He told Sky Sports: “It’s a funny thing because people would ask me at school and I’d say, ‘My dad is a boxer’.
“They would take a step back!
“Ever since then, I thought it was a cool thing to do. It’s not a job that everybody does.
“Some people think it is barbaric or gladiatorial. It’s our job. It’s like having a cup of tea to us.”
When Fury was in his later teens, punters more regularly plucked up the courage to take him on in the street – inspired by a few pints.
Taunts that he had achieved ‘nothing’ in the ring were something he had to learn to ‘shut out’.
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The boxer added: “It brings a whole different [life]. If you go out for a drink with the lads, people will offer you a fight.
“People say: ‘Who are you? You’ve done nothing!’.
“People with a few drinks down them would say things on a regular occurrence when I used to go out.
“All the way through school I had challenges. Then in the boxing gym I had challenges because of my surname.
“It brings a whole set of problems but, in hindsight, they weren’t problems. There is a lot of jealously in the world and I had to shut it out.”
The family also boasts former British heavyweight belt-holder Hughie Fury and trainer Peter, Tommy’s cousin and uncle.
Being born into such an atmosphere helped craft the ex-reality TV star into a natural fighter.
He noted: “Everybody in my family loves fighting, loves a fight, and even if they don’t train in boxing themselves, they can still have a fight.
Even if I didn’t train, I could have a fight because it’s in me. If somebody wanted to fight me, the fire in me would come out.
Tommy Fury
“They can all throw their hands. You see a normal family kicking a football around but this is us.
“It’s what I was born into. Everybody related to us. We don’t have to train or think about it.
“Even if I didn’t train, I could have a fight because it’s in me. If somebody wanted to fight me, the fire in me would come out.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
