Is Fury a hype job?

Bang on!

 

Overall I think Fury has been good for mental health awareness. If someone like him can talk to the whole world about his problems, it might help others at least reach out to one person.

The bit I've never liked is how he makes out his mental health was the reason he took drugs and drank/ate so much. Seems obvious it was the other way around. Hitting the drink and drugs so hard after the Wlad win is clearly what led to the most severe of his mental health issues. He almost makes it sound like he didn't have a choice.

 

I think its more of a chicken and egg argument than you make out. Exccesive drug and alcohol use is often symptom of problems.

 

There probably is an element of that mate. But he fought regularly for 6 or 7 years as a pro with very few interruptions. It wasn't until after the Wlad fight, when he had a ridiculous cash injection, did we see mental health issues put him out for years. He clearly celebrated far too hard after that win and got a real taste for the Columbian marching powder - wasn't trying to hide it with his Tony Montana pic. Unfortunately watched it happen to a few friends where it's led to serious mental health problems.

Like I said I do think he has been a force for good with mental health exposure, and I really do think he's a good guy. Just think he should own that part a bit better. He had a clear choice - one that he was definitely capable of making. Same with lots of lads every week.

 

To be honest, I think negative press after he won the titles from Wladimir did effect him.
Then, the media were all over AJ getting that IBF belt that Fury should never have been stripped of. AJ getting crazy publicity and love, and a 'world title' and still fighting the likes of Charles Martin !
A PEDs case going on in the background.
Then Wlad rematch being poorly promoted, forecast to do modest business in Manchester.
I guess Fury had a "what's the ****ing point?" moment and went off the rails. And made his own mental state worse by trying to self-medicate with booze, food and cocaine.

 

The last paragraph definitely. Emotions are what drive our actions and a main symptom behind a range of psychiatric disorders is emotional dysregulation. The ability or inability to put the brakes on how you're feeling.

Simply put, if you can't pause and reflect on how you're feeling you will more likely make awful decisions that are detrimental to your health and wellbeing. Fury couldn't handle the intense feelings from the come down of achieving something great coupled with a sense of feeling unaccepted and hated by many sections of the media. Unless he's medicated he will crash again at some point.

 

I think there were a few tell-tale signs about his mental state for a few years prior to beating Klitschko. He's always been erratic and, whether it was aimed as a wind up, Klitschko correctly diagnosed him as 'bi-polar' in the build up to their first fight. I think at the time he had a hard time adjusting to that victory. The press was against him, he had no media training or team to help him with that side of things and a close tight-nit team made up largely of his family and people he'd grown up with which isn't always that helpful.

Also he was only 27 at the time. He may have looked closer to 40, but it's quite a lot to deal with at that age unless you have the correct support around you. All of that reached a head with the drink, drugs and overeating.

Compare that to Joshua who had all the correct media training and PR to help guide him along. Joshua was a similar age when those "superior" comments came out. It got very nicely brushed away so that only a few boxing nerds such as us on this small forum even know it happened. It can count for an awful lot to have the right team to help your image.