10:50 am, December 2, 2022
In the days when world class sportsmen and women are paid millions of pounds every year, it is unusual to see them move into more normal jobs at the end of their careers.
However, world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury has admitted he would fancy a tilt in the used car trade once he finally hangs up his gloves.
The Morecambe native actually flipped second-hand vehicles before his rise to stardom and has recently suggested he would be open to a return.
The 34-year-old says he would like to run his own used car business in the Lancashire town as he needs work to give him a purpose.
Speaking ahead of his WBC World Title clash against Derek Chisora, Fury told The Sportsman: ‘I definitely need a purpose and I don’t know what that’s going to be.
‘Maybe I’ll go back to being a used car salesman and open myself a little pitch in Morecambe somewhere.
‘Give myself a job so I can get up at 7am, go to the gym, come back and then go to work.’
Fury has previously spoken about working as a car dealer to make money as a teenager and in the early days of his boxing career.
Working alongside his father John, the two-time world champion began as a car cleaner before becoming a salesman later on.
In a 2011 interview with The Guardian, Fury credited his stint in the used car industry with instilling discipline which has served him well since.
He said: ‘My first job was working for my dad. He was a used-car dealer and I used to wash the cars down, clean them out and so on.
‘I would do stuff for him pretty much every day, it was quite a good job to be honest. I did it all the way through school, from about the age of 10 until I was 16.
‘I was always quite good at fixing and working with cars. My dad’s always dealt cars and I’ve always been brought up around them.
‘I could drive from the age of nine. My dad had his car pitch at home, and we used to drive the cars around the land, take them up to the tap, wash them and reverse them back. By the time I was 17 I could drive like Colin McRae.
(PA Images: Tyson Fury with his car dealer dad, John, in 2008)
‘It was great for me because it gave me discipline. I know how to work for money and I know how to appreciate it when I’ve got it. It also kept me out of trouble and kept me off the streets, drinking and all that stuff.
‘A lot of my friends when I was 14 or 15, they were all up and down, wanting to go out on a Friday night.
‘My dad had me working really late on Fridays and Saturday mornings and even on Sunday mornings.
‘And when I’d finished all that, we used to spend the rest of the time talking about boxing.’
