By Elliot Foster
Tyson Fury won part of his battle to return to the ring earlier this week.
But the 29-year-old will have a new face in the corner when he does eventually fight again.
Fury, the former WBA Super, IBO, IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion, was handed a reprieve by UK Anti-Doping and told he was free to resume his career in 2018 after accepting a backdated two-year ban.
However, he still has to overcome the hurdle of a January hearing with the British Boxing Board of Control as he looks to regain his licence.
If he is successful, Fury has Tony Bellew and current world champion Anthony Joshua, among others, on his hit-list, targeting a three-fight calendar year.
Fury has been trained by his uncle Peter for the past number of years and his father John’s brother was the man to guide him to the pinnacle of the sport back in 2015 when he travelled to Dusseldorf in Germany to topple then-divisional king Wladimir Klitschko.
He revealed to iFL TV, though, that his working relationship with Peter is over and that he is being trained by Ben Davison.
“I’m training with Ben Davison, who I also call the Duracell bunny,” Fury told Kugan Cassius. “He is a hell of a trainer. I worked with him for the first time last year over in Marbella when I was over there. We had a bit of fun and I said straight away that within five years he will be one of the best trainers in the country.”
Davison will be remembered as the man who cornered Billy Joe Saunders a year ago when he retained his WBO middleweight world title with a scrappy points victory over Artur Akavov at the Lagoon Leisure Centre in Paisley, Scotland.
“We’ve been going well,” Fury added. “The thing with Ben is, we can have fun, he’s my own age and we’re on the same kind of wavelength, but he’s strict and he’s good with what he does.
“I wouldn’t have him if he was s**t, would I? Think about it.”
But despite confirming a change in coach, Fury moved quickly to quash any idea that he and Peter had fallen out, even leaving the door open for a return.
“Peter is my uncle and I’d do anything for him. We worked together well, but sometimes a change is as good as anything else.
“We were maybe getting a bit stale in the gym, going through the same things over. We’re still talking, we haven’t fell out and I’m just branching out a little bit.
“For sure, I may work with Peter again. He has the experience, the knowledge, everything, but at the moment, the Duracell bunny is the man in charge.”
Fury confirmed that Peter is still training his cousin Hughie, who also accepted a two-year backdated drugs ban from UK Anti-Doping earlier this week.
Further details on the return to the ring of the man who still holds the Ring Magazine belt at heavyweight will be revealed in due course.
