Sport

Tyson Fury ready for title shot he thought would never come

Takes on Wladimir Klitchschko in rescheduled heavyweight title fight on Saturday

Tyson Fury serenaded Wladimir Klitschko with a rendition of ‘Wind beneath my wings’ at public training ahead of Saturday’s world title fight. Photograph: Reuters
Tyson Fury serenaded Wladimir Klitschko with a rendition of ‘Wind beneath my wings’ at public training ahead of Saturday’s world title fight. Photograph: Reuters
Wed Nov 25 2015 - 14:22

Tyson Fury is ready to be proven wrong on Saturday after convincing himself Wladimir Klitschko would never let him challenge for the world heavyweight title.

The Mancunian Traveller is set to face Ukrainian veteran Klitschko for the WBA, WBO and IBF titles in Germany this weekend and put to bed a frustrating couple of years.

A British blockbuster against former WBA champion David Haye fell through twice and the fight with Klitschko was also postponed when the latter suffered a recent injury.

However, just days away from his defining night, Fury accepts his doubts appear to have been wrong.

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“The wait is finally nearly over,” he said. “Completely and utterly finished.

“The long wait, the Haye pull-outs, Wlad getting injured etc has never really affected me too much.

“When Haye pulled out the first time it upset me a bit but the second time I expected it. With Klitschko we knew he was going to pull out and reschedule. I always knew he would because it’s part of the mind games he plays. We were almost waiting for it to happen and it did. But it didn’t really affect me.

“So it was postponed and rescheduled for a month later which benefitted me because I wasn’t feeling too clever anyway.”

Fury, who serenaded his opponent with a rendition of ‘Wing Beneath My Wings’ at Wednesday’s public work-outs, added: “I’ve said this fight would never happen for years because I’m all wrong for Wladimir and I was convinced he wouldn’t want to fight me.

“Since 2011 I’ve been saying it wouldn’t happen and on Saturday night I’m being proven wrong, as long as it actually happens.”

Fury insists the support at the 55,000-capacity ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf will not be one-way in favour of Germany-based Klitschko.

“I’ll most definitely have a lot of support from the Travelling community around Europe,” he said.

“There’ll be a lot of people from all over the country, all over Europe coming to this because it’s what you call ‘a once-in-a-lifetime’ calendar event.

“Because how often do you get someone fighting for the heavyweight championship of the world who is in with a shout? Not that often.”