​Tyson Fury Tells Mike Tyson The Amazing Story Behind His Name

Boxer Tyson Fury was named after another famous sporting hero - Mike Tyson. And there's an inspiring story behind why Fury's dad chose to name him after the former world heavyweight champion.

Fury, 32, spoke about his early life in a 2019 episode of Mike Tyson's podcast, Hotboxin' With Mike Tyson, telling his namesake about how he'd been born into boxing culture as a 'gypsy'.

"The only thing we wanna do is fight," he joked.

Fury went on to explain he'd been 'named after Mike', at which point Tyson asked: "How did that s*** happen?!"

Fury continued: "I'll tell you how it happened. My dad was a professional boxer in the late 80s, early 90s - heavyweight. And his hero was you.

"So when I was born 12 August 1988, I came into the world and I was eight weeks premature and I was dying, I wasn't supposed to live.

"And when I lived, my dad said, 'I'm going to call you after my favourite heavyweight, Tyson'.

"And the doctor said, 'No, that's not going to be a good name, he's not going to be very big this guy'.

"I only weighed 1lb in weight, I was tiny. And I grew up to be 6ft 9 and 265lbs!"

Explaining how he got into boxing, Fury continued: "I never had my first amateur fight until I was, like, 16 years old, but I was brought up around boxing, I was a gym rat.

"Whenever my dad was going to the gym, I'd go to the gym with him and be hitting the bags, knocking stuff over in the gym.

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"I was brought up around it. My brothers, cousins, everybody boxers, and we all used to fight each other as kids growing up.

"And I decided I was going to be heavyweight champion of the world, from being a young kid."

The interview was recently reshared on TikTok by @iconicsmomentz, racking up two million views and more than 288,000 likes in the process.

Many people commented to say Tyson looked 'honoured' by Fury's tale, pointing out his 'priceless smile'.

One person wrote: "Some people really are destined for greatness."

Another said: "A fighter since birth."

A third said of Tyson Fury: "The best name I came across so far."

Topics: SPORT, Mike Tyson, Entertainment, Tyson Fury, Boxing

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman