‘I couldn’t be there’: Tyson Fury’s family tragedy hours before world title fight

Boxing champion Tyson Fury has revealed the devasting blow that hit his family hours before his first fight with Oleksandr Usyk.

Tyson Fury revealed wife Paris had a miscarriage just hours before his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.

The former heavyweight world champion, 36, lost to the Ukrainian in their undisputed showdown in Saudi Arabia on May 18.

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Paris was due to arrive in Riyadh on the Friday, the day before the fight.

But when the 34-year-old called to tell her husband that she would not make the Riyadh trip - selflessly blaming high blood pressure - the Gypsy King knew why.

And Fury has now bravely opened up that it was because they had lost their baby boy, who would have been their eighth child.

Fury lost an iconic split decision - stunning the world with his resilience once again by staying on his feet after a ninth-round battering.

Usyk won the undisputed title. Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images

But he does not want the heart-wrenching family tragedy to be blamed as an excuse for his first pro defeat.

“The one that she was having, she lost that on the Friday of the fight, which was pretty s****y,” Fury explained in the lead up to his second fight against Usyk.

“I am not making excuses 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, so it is hard that I couldn’t be there with her, in that time.

“When she said she couldn’t come over, 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, I knew, 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.”

Fury revealed the tragic news. Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

The boxer had publicly hinted that Paris was pregnant with baby No8 on social media back in March.

He posted an Instagram story of his glamorous wife and wrote: “Mother of seven and still beautiful. Still strong and still my rock. #8incoming. Lucky for some.”

But weeks later, the couple suffered more miscarriage agony - after previously opening up on a stillbirth in 2014 and Paris losing a baby on the day of Tyson’s boxing comeback after 32 months in 2018.

She decided against telling Fury before he stepped into the ring to fight Sefer Seferi.

Then in 2021, Tyson and Paris’ daughter Athena was placed in intensive care and put on a ventilator after complications at birth but was discharged after ten days.

Now, for all of his 6ft 9in frame, 19st bulk, boasting and bluster and brilliant boxing skills, Fury seems uncharacteristically vulnerable in this interview.

But he is at pains to explain that he does not want sympathy and - most importantly - he does not want to be seen to be using the gut-wrenching news to explain away the only defeat of his pro career.

He rightly paints Paris as the hero who carried the crippling burden alone, so her man could get a crack at his dream.

Tyson Fury celebrates with Paris after his 2022 win over Dillian Whyte. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Tyson and Paris Fury. Photo: Instagram

The 34-1-1 fighter added: “When I got back I got the inevitable confirmation that it was gone. But she kept it to herself.

“I knew she wasn’t coming over on the Friday, 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. 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.”

Sadly for Fury, who has often spoken about having 12 children, he and Paris are now wrestling with the idea of settling for their current brood due to the toll it has taken on her body.

The entire Fury clan. Photo: Instagram

But in typical Traveller fashion, he stops opening up when he feels he might show too much emotion to the British press pack that has seen him display superhuman strength against Usyk and Deontay Wilder.

“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,” Fury said.

“But no more of this morbid stuff now because I’ll break down in tears.”

In addition to his roles of fighter, father and husband, Fury took up one extra job as sub-editor.

After lowering his guard and opening up on his personal life, he asked us not to discredit Usyk’s superb performance.

In a final act of dignified valour, he said: “Me explaining this is not an excuse, I don’t want that headline.

“I was asked about having more kids and I gave an honest answer - but it is NOT an excuse.

“You can write about it but I am not using it as an excuse - that would not be the truth.”

This story first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.

Originally published as ‘I couldn’t be there’: Tyson Fury’s family tragedy hours before world title fight