By Brad Lewis
World heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury admits he has been snorting cocaine for the past four months, but he doesn't believe that is a reason to strip him of his belts.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Fury admits to drinking daily and hardcore drug use to help him deal with ''personal demons'' after his life spun out of control following his win over Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf, Germany, last November.
Within weeks of winning three of the four major boxing title (IBF,WBA and WBO) Fury had engineered one of the greatest collapses in sports history.
Sexist and homophobic comments on social media angered millions of fans who had cheered him on just three weeks earlier and after refusing to defend his IBF title to pursue a Klitschko rematch he was stripped of that belt.
There were two postponements of the Klitschko fight, missed press conferences, performance enhanced drug allegations, retiring on social media, then announcing it was a hoax mere hours late.
However, Fury lays the blame squarely on the media, who he accuses of spotlighting him because of his life choices and personal opinions.
"It's been a witch hunt ever since I won that world title," Fury says.
"Because of my background, because of who I am and what I do – there's hatred for travellers and gypsies around the world."
The 28-year-old feels he should be embraced for being different to the norm, but instead his every move is investigated with a fine tooth comb.
"If I won over 30 fights and knocked out everybody it would be no good.”
"I can't do nothing in my life that's any good to the general people because I'll never be accepted for who I am and what I am."
Fury accuses the British media of hounding him, saying that he has received unfair scrutiny from boxing authorities and that, just this year, he, his wife and their three children were refused service from a restaurant due to their heritage.
"I'm the heavyweight champion of the world and I've been told 'Sorry mate you can’t come in,' he says. "No travelers allowed.''
Fury acknowledges that at times he doesn't think before he speaks but he says that’s what makes him who he is, and part of that is to do with his on-going mental illness issues.
"They say I've got a version of bipolar, I'm a manic depressive.
"I just hope someone kills me before I kill myself."
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