Tyson Fury has some explaining to do after an eventful week that led him to pull out of his highly anticipated rematch with Wladimir Klitschko.
The heavyweight champion announced his decision Friday to withdraw from the July 9 fight, claiming he injured his ankle while running in England’s Lake District. He posted pictures of his heavily bruised ankle on Twitter.
While the the pictures suggest a significant injury, it certainly has not slowed up his social life.
On Sunday night, Fury partied with English soccer fans in Nice, the day before England faces Iceland in the Round of 16 at the Euros. A shirtless Fury quickly made friends with hundreds of fans at a bar when he bought hundreds of Jäger bombs and joined in their chants of “England till I die.”
Fury — who is perhaps best known for making vile, derogatory statements about women, gays and Jews — made no attempt to hide his wild behavior Sunday night, posting a picture of the receipt from the Jäger bombs on his Twitter account.
Fury kept the party going late into the night, posing for more pictures with fans in Nice’s town square.
His ankle didn’t seem to bother him during the celebration: He is seen jumping up and down while singing along with a group of fans.
Ironically, it may have been similar behavior that caused the injury. Several reports contradict Fury’s running story, saying the injury was a result of his partying too hard at a rave two weeks ago. Fellow partygoers saw him fall and cry out in pain after twisting his ankle at the Gottwood techno festival in Wales.
“Tyson was partying at the Walled Garden stage into the early hours,” one source told The Sun. “He tried to leap over a low barrier from the VIP area on to the dance floor and landed very awkwardly. He cried out in agony and ended up sprawled on the floor. He had to be led out with two of his pals supporting him.”
“Tyson was really partying hard, then seemed to slip,” another source added. “Everyone knew he’d hurt his ankle, I thought, ‘There’s no way he’ll be able to fight Klitschko with that injury.’ Sure enough, two weeks later he postponed it.”
Fury, who sent Klitschko to his first defeat in more than a decade when he won by unanimous decision in their bout last November, denied all accusations.
“The ankle injury which caused his fight to be postponed happened while he was running in preparation for his title defense, five days after the concert, as is backed up by a doctor’s certificate,” promoter Frank Warren told The Sun of his fighter, who is also under scrutiny for traces of a banned substance that were reportedly found in a sample taken between February and March 2015, months before he claimed the heavyweight title from Klitschko.
“He was in full training well after the festival.”
