Tyson Fury left on verge of tears after receiving "devastating" 7am phone call

09 August 2023 , 17:44

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Tyson Fury left on verge of tears after receiving "devastating" 7am phone call

Tyson Fury has spoken out about the moment he found out his younger cousin had been stabbed to death on a night out.

Rico Burton, who was 31, was killed almost a year ago when he was stabbed in the neck during a brawl outside a bar in Altrincham. Liam O’Pray was last week sentenced to 28 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder. And Fury, who had trained with Burton in their local boxing gym, was told of his death in a 7am phone call while on holiday in Mallorca with his wife Paris.

And speaking on his new Netflix documentary, Fury said: "Last night I was on a high after the [Oleksandr] Usyk fight [against Anthony Joshua ]. We had a great party, me and Paris were dancing. It was a great night. Then this morning I got a phone call telling me my cousin Rico has been killed. It’s like someone took the plug out of me and all the life had come out of me.

"Rico had a whole lot of life to live and now he’s finished, shocking news. Me and Rico are really close. We trained at the same boxing club together. We used to play up and down when we were small kids, hide and seek, building dens... precious moments." Fury's wife added: “Tyson got the call early in the morning. He went into a really low, quiet mood which isn’t good for Tyson. Such a devastating phone call can change everything that’s going on in his life and I think Tyson found it really hard to process that it happened.

“Tyson has taken Rico’s death really hard so I’m supporting him 100 per cent. We’re in it, ride or die. Me and Tyson, we’ve been through some tough times, we’ve had some serious tough situations whether it’s been the kids being ill, or me being in hospital or Tyson having his depression times, we went through some tough stuff. We can make it through anything."

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Tyson Fury after receiving the news (At Home With the Furys | Official Trailer | Netflix)

Fury has not fought since he stopped Derek Chisora in their unwanted trilogy fight last December, but will return to the ring on October 28 when he takes on former UFC heavyweight world champion Francis Ngannou. The rivals will clash over 10 three-minute rounds in a sanctioned boxing fight, but Fury's world title will not be on the line in Saudi Arabia.

Fury has been roundly criticised for not fighting Usyk who holds the other three belts following his back-to-back wins over Joshua last year. Usyk will defend his titles against Daniel Dubois in Poland later this month.

Martin Domin