Inside Tommy Fury’s tough family with dad gouging out man’s eye and teaching kids bare-knuckle boxing from the age of 5
WHAT’s it like to be part of the UK’s toughest family – aka the Furys?
Ex-Love Islander Tommy has given us a rare glimpse of older brother, Roman, filmed ahead of his US boxing debut in Cleveland, Ohio, last month.
Tommy turned the camera to his brother on his vlog, joking: “We’ve got Roman Fury, the silent brother.”
The 24-year-old Fury brother, Roman, turned pro last year and he’s not the only member of the family looking for public recognition.
Love Island 2019 star Tommy, 22, had already the nation’s tongues wagging when he revealed that his older brother was Tyson, before shacking up with influencer Molly-Mae Hague on the show.
Delve a little deeper into his story and Tyson’s relatives pull no punches.
To put it bluntly, you wouldn’t want to find yourself on the wrong side of the Fury family…
‘Gypsy John’
On Love Island, Tommy was fast to mention his famous brother in his Love Island intro VT, saying: “I’m related to the one and only Tyson Fury and I know he’s backing me all the way.”
He is one of five of gypsy John Fury’s kids with half-brothers Roman, Tyson, Shane, John Jr who all have different mothers.
Both Tommy and Tyson, and later even their younger brother Shane, followed in the Fury family tradition of boxing – catching the bug from their Dad who also fought professionally.
‘Gypsy’ John Fury’s career peaked in the 1980s and 90s when he fought (and won) against the likes of WBO World Champ Henry Akinwande.
John learned to box growing up, practising bare-knuckle fighting in a travelling community before graduating into the sport professionally.
It was, in fact, John who trained Tyson into the professional arena and eventually the British heavyweight title. It’s believed that he even named his son after boxing legend Mike Tyson.
John now lives in Cheshire with his wife Amber and has shown his support for his son on Twitter, responding ‘Get in son’ to a tweet about Tommy from fellow reality star Jake Quickenden.
His dad gouged someone’s eye out
John was a busy man in the 1980s and Tommy has four half siblings, including his superstar boxer brother Tyson.
The oldest of John’s brood, and also his namesake, John Fury, was born in 1984.
Tyson came next in 1988, Shane in 1991 and Ramona, the John’s only daughter in 1997. Tragically, Ramona died as a baby.
He has close relationships with all his children, and still hangs out with the boys when they train and gives them tips.
But John’s temper has been known to stray from the ring and the 55-year-old was jailed for 11 years after a brawl ended in him gouging out a man’s eye.
Victim Oathie Sykes was left half-blind and screaming in agony after the heavyweight boxer shoved his finger into his eye during the fight at a car auction.
John, who pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, served only four years behind bars after his sentence was cut on appeal.
During the incident John was heard declaring that he was ‘Britain’s toughest man’. A family not known for their modesty, his son and protégé Tyson would go on to make similar claims, saying in 2015 that he was ‘the greatest, the gypsy warrior, uneducated but loaded’.
Speaking after his release, John told The Sun: “[Sykes’s] lost an eye and I’ve lost five years of my life, important years I’m never going to get back, what money couldn’t buy.”
‘The silent brother’
Roman has flown relatively under the radar in the Fury family – breaking cover to appear in Love Island in 2019.
Last year, he announced he was the ninth Fury family member to take up boxing.
He explained to iFL: “When lockdown happened I had nothing else to do.
“I had no work on, as many people didn’t, and I had the opportunity to go and train.
“So I did it, got fit, lost a bit of weight and I just fell in love with it.
Roman said his new career was down to Tyson’s lockdown training sessions.
He told: “He just said listen, if you want to do it that badly, you can, it’s never too late.
“But you need to put a hundred percent in, everything you’ve got, no slacking, no doing out on the weekends, nothing like that, you’ve got to completely dedicate yourself.
“He’s not said it’s too late for you, give it up and all that, he’s been nothing but supportive, same as Tommy – same as everyone, the whole family.”
The criminal gang leader
John’s brother Peter – Tommy and Tyson’s Uncle – was also heavily involved in boxing and trained Tommy and Tyson from being kids.
But he was also a kingpin in a criminal gang that covered the North East.
Heading up the supply chain of illegal amphetamine, mainly from Denmark, into the North of England Peter made millions from the illegal drugs trade.
Peter even paid £63,000 in cash for a Porche 911 while still living in a caravan. The later police investigation noted what a ‘highly intelligent’ and sophisticated operation he had in place.
However, these were antics that landed the now 50-year-old behind bars in 1995 for ten years.
He was forced to hand back around £1 million in illegal gains to the authorities before his release.
Despite this, his conviction didn’t deter him, and Peter continued to run his illegal business from inside the prison. Continuing his dealings upon his release – he was later put back in prison for a short spell in 2008 for money laundering.
Peter then moved to France where he now lives a millionaire lifestyle on the French Riviera.
He regularly shares snapshots of his luxury lifestyle – posing with expensive cars including his prized McLaren coupe which costs upward of £144,000. He claims now that he is on the straight and narrow.
Along with John, Peter was crucial to carving out the boys’ boxing careers and Tyson has previously credited his uncle as his ‘guardian angel’. He now claims that focusing on the boys’ boxing training helped him to leave behind his life of crime.
The uncle who died in a caravan fire
John’s other brother, Hughie, sadly died after a bizarre accident while he was unhitching a caravan.
Suffering multiple injuries, he made the decision to leave hospital early against medical advice and later died from a blood clot after failing to take anti blood clotting medication.
Tyson pulled out of a fight to be by his uncle’s side during his final two months in intensive care.
Training kids at the age of five
Tommy’s cousins are also into boxing.
His cousin Hosea Burton, known by his boxing name The Hammer has been making waves in his home city of Manchester as a rising star of the ring.
At 27 he turned professional, and so far has a very impressive unbeaten track record of 14 wins out of 14 fights.
He is the current British Light-Heavyweight Champion. Another of Tommy’s cousins is Andy Lee – a now retired Middleweight boxer. During his career he managed an impressive 35 wins.
Another cousin – the son of Dad John’s brother Peter – is Hughie Fury. Hughie has been training since the age of five with his father Peter Fury who was also a professional boxer back in the early days.
He had his first amateur fight at the legal age of just 11 and went on to fight in a total of 45 bouts before turning Pro.
Hughie’s goal is to rank as highly as his cousin and share the top ten with Tyson.
It’s fair to say that when it comes to the Furys, this is one family who certainly pack a punch.
