From blazing rows to crippling anxiety – how Paris Fury begged Tyson to quit boxing for years as he announces retirement

TYSON Fury has announced his retirement from boxing, but it turns out that his wife, Paris, had begged him on numerous occasions to quit.

Yesterday, the Gypsy King, 36, told his 6.9million Instagram followers that he was hanging up his gloves for good.

In a statement shared on social media, Tyson declared: "I'd like to announce my retirement from boxing. 

“It's been a blast, I've loved every single minute of it. I'm going to end with this. Dick Turpin wore a mask.”

Whilst Paris, 35, who shares seven kids with the former heavyweight champion, is yet to comment on his retirement news, it turns out that the boxer's childhood sweetheart has consistently called for her man to get out of the ring. 

And from blazing rows to crippling anxiety, here we take a look at Paris’ complicated relationship with Tyson’s beloved sport. 

‘One shot can change everything’ 

The outspoken sportsman has been a professional boxer for 16 years, but in 2020, Paris urged the WBC and lineal champion not to fight Deontay Wilder after concerns for his safety.

At the time, she told the Mirror: “I’d like him to beat Anthony Joshua and then stop. 

“He’s in the ring with supreme boxers and it is a dangerous sport. We both know the risks. I know one shot can change everything.

“If they put all the belts on the line it would be such an amazing fight. I’d like him to take that one fight and retire undefeated. 

“He can’t go on forever, he can’t go undefeated forever. I wouldn’t like to see him continue for too long and get hurt.”

‘Battling every day’

If that wasn’t enough, last year a source confessed to Heat World that Paris was not happy to see Tyson in the boxing ring. 

Paris – who called Tyson “the best man in my eyes” after his loss against Oleksandr Usyk – expressed her fears for his health.

Whilst a huge pay cheque is always nice, the previously undefeated heavyweight, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2017, has struggled with depression, anxiety, alcohol addiction and cocaine abuse. 

And as he ignored her desperate pleas to hang up his boxing gloves prior to his rematch with the Ukrainian boxer, a source claimed: “She had all these worries – not to mention anger – about Tyson doing the first fight, which she’s had to put aside to focus on making sure he doesn’t spiral after his defeat. 

“So, to have to go through another cycle of that if there’s a rematch, she’s dreading it.” 

The insider, who is close to the couple, also added: “She begged him not to do the first fight. They had blazing rows about it and, in the end, she couldn’t even be there to watch it because she knew what would likely happen – and what would come afterwards.”

But that’s not all, as the source continued: “She worries they won’t survive this. 

“That’s what’s making her angry – he’s the fighter, but it’s her who is actually battling every day.”

‘Worst years of our lives’

But Paris, who lives with Tyson and their kids in a £1.7million ‘golden’ mansion in Morecambe, has felt this way for years.

After Tyson defeated Wladimir Klitschko and subsequently retired in 2015, he spiralled into a deep state of depression and substance addiction. 

At the time, Paris admitted: “It was the worst few years of our lives.”

She told i: “[Tyson’s mental health problems are] not something he’s conquered, but we’ve learned to deal with it. 

“Getting a diagnosis was very helpful for me; it made me realise he’s not just being grumpy and negative towards me and the children. But it does get to you.”

‘Wanted him to retire years ago’

Back in 2023, the busy mum, who recently reunited with her hubby after not speaking for three months in the lead up to his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk, confessed that she wanted Tyson to retire ‘years ago’, but he didn’t listen.

She told talkSPORT: “I wanted him to retire a few years ago. He isn’t doing it.

“You saw it well documented on the [Netflix] documentary that he didn’t enjoy it. He doesn’t like being retired. 

“But I’m hoping after Usyk that’s the end of the fight. I’m hoping that’s the end of it. What more could he prove? What more can he do?”

Paris also shared her concerns for Tyson’s health, as she added: "I think about his health, I think he'll probably do it for a few more years. He is 33 years old now - I think maybe until he is 35. 

"I know Wladimir [Klitschko] and other boxers have gone into their 40s, but are you going to keep going until you lose? I don't know, I wouldn't want to see that for Tyson.”

‘Taking a toll’

Not only this, but in May this year, Paris, who has been candid about feeling “hopeless” and lonely across Tyson’s 16-year professional boxing career, pleaded with Tyson yet again.

She gave him an ultimatum as she demanded that the World Champion boxer give up his passion once and for all amid fears that he would be killed in the ring.

While Tyson's younger brother Tommy, 25, was supportive of his older sibling getting back in the ring after he semi-retired from boxing in 2022, the same couldn’t be said for Paris, who admitted she was terrified that Tyson could lose his life.

Paris previously revealed her feelings towards Tyson’s boxing career on their hit Netflix show, At Home with the Furys. 

The blonde beauty admitted that during the lead up to Tyson's fights, she is crippled with anxiety and worry for her husband.

And Paris has been candid about her resentment towards Tyson around 2012, around a time he had won 20 successive professional fights. 

She was a mum-of-two at the time, with their first son Prince John James born in 2011. 

She wrote in her book: “His undefeated record was a great achievement, and I was so proud of him, but his punishing schedule of bouts was starting to take a toll on our relationship. Everything was becoming a bit strained, a bit forced."

Paris continued: “And even though I knew my husband had a job to do, I still felt a little resentful that I was the one stuck in the bungalow, caring for the kids and keeping the place nice.

“I started to feel quite isolated, and became worried we were growing apart – I could really sense the distance widening between us – and I think Tyson felt the same.”

Around that time, Tyson proposed that the couple renew their vows in the US as he was in New York training for his April 2013 clash against Steve Cunningham.

“The fight against Cunningham took place at Madison Square Garden and proved to be an emotional rollercoaster,” Paris recalled. 

Although Tyson won easily in the end, in round two he was knocked to the floor for only the second time in his professional career - something which sent Paris into a “hopeless panic”.

She shared: “Watching my husband hit the deck was a shocking new experience for me – I’d become used to feeling sorry for the guy in the other corner – and I found it very, very scary. 

“I remember feeling totally helpless as Cunningham’s upper-cut connected with Tyson’s jaw and caused him to tumble to the floor.

“While I watched the referee giving Tyson the count, a realisation hit me like a ton of bricks: my husband was not invincible.”

‘Could die at any moment’ 

And whilst Tyson was reluctant to hang up his gloves, speaking to Mail Sport ahead of his fight with Francis Ngannou last year, Tyson admitted that he sees where Paris is coming from and feels sympathy for her having to watch him fight.

The Gypsy King admitted: "It must be horrible knowing your husband can be killed in a fight and you've got six kids, seven in a minute, to look after on your own. That's got to be nerve wracking.

"If Paris was going into something and I knew she could die at any moment in time, I would be nervous too. 

“But it's something we get on with. I earn a lot of money. I get danger money and I am well paid for it.

"We know the risk going in and it is what it is. Nobody wants me to box anymore in my family. I've got too much to lose.”