Wladimir Klitschko thinks Tyson Fury is bipolar.
The long-reigning heavyweight champion said as much during a conference call Tuesday to promote their Oct. 24 heavyweight title fight in Dusseldorf, Germany (HBO). When asked whether he has taken any of Fury’s outrageous, relentless trash talk personally, Klitschko characterized the bombastic British challenger as a mentally unstable person he is eager to teach a lesson in their 12-round fight Klitschko’s IBF, WBA and WBO titles.
“Well, we need to go little bit deeper in Tyson Fury’s issues,” Klitschko explained. “He has been mentioning things about Emanuel Steward is the greatest coach, and then I heard that he said that, ‘Well, he was overrated.’ Then he was saying that he admires Lennox Lewis. And then he said Lennox Lewis pretty much hasn’t achieved much in his sporting life. You see all these different sides of Tyson Fury, that he’ll say one thing and then later on he’s saying the completely other thing. On one hand he said, ‘I’m motivated with the man in front of me.’ And then the two fighters who were supposed to fight him as a replacement, [Alexander] Ustinov was supposed to fight him, and then he decided not to. And [he was] actually blaming Klitschkos for setting it up, which I didn’t understand. That speaks to me as a person that is psychologically unstable. He makes a lot of faces, he sings in the ring. His behavior before the [Steve] Cunningham fight in New York was absolutely not OK. So he does a lot of things that on one hand could look funny, like a clown. I’m not using clown as a negative because to make people laugh, it takes a lot talent.”
The 6-foot-6, 245-pound Klitschko (64-3, 53 KOs) appeared to be kidding during some of his assessment of Fury’s psyche, yet seemed serious at times as well.
“Then he’s saying that [he is] going to retire after this fight or every person can give me a whip with a stick if I lose this fight,” Klitschko continued. “I’m so happy that he’s not confirmed that he’s going [to commit] suicide after this fight. So there’s a lot of psychological issues here in Tyson Fury’s mind. So I think he’s bipolar. He’s bipolar. There’s psychological issues, psychopaths, that he’s not really knowing what he’s going to do next. He doesn’t have a plan. If something comes up, he does it in totally different ways.
“And that’s the analytics that I’ve been observing. I haven’t watched many of Tyson Fury’s fights, but now I’ve taken a look more particular and I see with his behavior, how he acts, and there’s some major, major issues. But I also said, I also believe I can change him in a better way as a person. I’ve done a great job as a therapist for David Haye. And David Haye became a better person after fighting me [in July 2011]. I’m confirming it and I’ve seen David after the fight, years later. We had a chance [to talk] and he definitely became a better person. I’m mad that David Haye didn’t fight Tyson Fury because he would’ve knocked him out, so then I wouldn’t have a chance to give my therapy to Tyson Fury. But I’m sure I can, as a therapist, and that’s what it’s going to look like – reality therapy during the fight – that I really change Tyson Fury and make him a better person. So I don’t think he’s completely lost. I think I can do it as an experienced therapist. That’s how I see it.”