Tyson Fury believes hitting golf balls 400 yards during rounds with his coach SugarHill Steward has added to his power ahead of his fight with Dillian Whyte.
The world heavyweight champion will defend his title for the second time on April 23 i n front of a record-breaking 94,000-strong crowd at Wembley Stadium. And between gruelling training sessions in the boxing gym, he has been taking to the greens in Lancashire to improve his golf game.
Fury is no stranger to odd training methods, having previously claimed among other things to have doused his hands in petrol ahead of his rematch with Deontay Wilder. And he argues that improving his golf game has had a direct effect on how powerfully he will punch in the ring.
“I've been playing a lot of golf in Morecambe, with trainer SugarHill, to prepare for this fight," he told reporters at a virtual press conference last night. “And that has really improved my right hand and putting my shoulder really into my shots.
“I'm driving the ball around 400 yards and I think it really has helped. I hit around 200 balls a day as part of my training, we do loads of different things to spice things up. We've had a lot of fun in camp. It's not like I'm going to the guillotine – it's damn, I'm going to be on TV!"
Fury is a heavy favourite to beat Whyte when they finally square off in a massive all-British clash next week. The pair are former sparring partners and friends, but have become enemies amid a bitter build-up to the fight, which saw Whyte skip the press conference and all promotional duties leading up to the event.
Despite Whyte's absence from pushing the event, they have sold a massive amount of tickets. And promoter Frank Warren is predicting over 1million pay-per-view buys in the UK with a further 500,000 in America where the bout will air during the late afternoon.
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“I don't dance to no-one's tune," Whyte declared when asked why he had decided not to get involved in promotion for the event. "I'm a warrior, I'm a survivor. We can dance together, but it can't be one-way traffic. I'm a disciplined guy, I've learned to be disciplined over the years.
"You want me to do things (to promote the fight)? Cool, but I'm a professional. When these guys try to mug me off, and treat me like it's the Tyson Fury show, they need to get things corrected. it's very had to clap with one hand. You need two hands to clap.”
Whyte also believes that despite his silence, the event has sold out so quickly due to his involvement, citing less than stellar reported sales for Fury's Stateside clashes with Deontay Wilder. He added: “It's not the Tyson Fury Show – his fights with Deontay Wilder didn't sell out. This show sold out because of me and Tyson Fury."
