Tyson Fury’s wife Paris Fury has spoken out about the 6ft 9in heavyweight boxing champion’s close encounters with death as a newborn.
Born Tyson Luke Fury, it’s hard to imagine that the Gypsy King was ever as small as a paperback book, but he weighed just 1Ib when he was born.
Entering the world, seven weeks too soon, Fury was critically ill and died three times whilst in a NICU incubator.
The 31-year-old had to show the fighting tenacity he is now synonymous for from the start, as doctors believed that he had very little chance of survival.
Speaking this week on Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s ‘Parenting Hell’ podcast, Paris, who has been married to Fury since 2008, revealed more about her husband’s entrance into the world: “He was born seven weeks premature. He was really premature, he died three times in the incubators. He was really ill yeah; his mam had a real bad time when she had him.”
Rob Beckett replied: “That’s such an inspiring story because a lot of people, when they have premature kids, they sort of think ‘oh god are they going to be big and strong’ or whatever and you know, you can’t get much bigger and stronger than the heavyweight champion of the world at 6ft 9in.”
Now living with Paris and their six children in Morecambe, Tyson is often faced with questions about whether that is his true name, something that his wife addressed during the episode.
“His dad’s told the story before of how he got the name Tyson because they said he’s a fighter, he’s a fighter. He’s going to fight. His brothers all got old fashioned traditional names, but he was named after Mike Tyson for his fighting spirit.
"It's an amazing, amazing story. The thing is, a lot of people think that Tyson's name isn't even his real name. They say his real name is Luke, but it isn't. His name all his life - he was Tyson Luke Fury. His middle name was that and that's what my baby boy is called after his dad.
"But people still say, I know that Dillian Whyte keeps emphasising that's not his real name, he just changed it to make himself sound scary but it really isn't. He was called that name because he was born premature."
He may have been born fighting for survival, but Fury has worked tirelessly to prove that he can beat all the odds and fight for victory time and time again.