Tyson Fury revealed in his new Netflix docu-series a heartbreaking moment in which he learned of his cousin’s murder via a shocking phone call.
Rico Burton was stabbed in the neck outside a pub in Altrincham, Cheshire, last year when a brawl broke out.
A guy was convicted guilty of murder in July of this year and was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month. He was advised that he would have to spend a minimum of 28 years before being eligible for release.
In a victim impact statement read in court, Rico’s mother Deborah Burton described her son as her ‘Golden Boy’, stating: ‘Throughout the whole Traveller community Rico will never be forgotten.
‘On the day he died, a piece of me died inside. I have had my heart ripped out and cut into pieces.’
During an episode of At Home With The Furys, Tyson, 35, and his wife Paris Fury, 33, were having a fantastic time following his retirement in Mallorca, Spain when the boxer received a terrible call one morning.
‘This morning, I was in bed and I got a phone call telling me that my cousin Rico has been killed,’ he said.
‘It was just like someone had took the plug out of me and all my life had come out of me. Rico had a whole lot of life to live, and now it’s finished. Shocking news. Shocking.’
Tyson explained how close he and his first cousin Rico had been when they were kids, having trained at the same boxing club and done activities like playing hide and seek and building dens, while Paris had known him since she was a teenager.
Paris outlined how her husband ‘doesn’t handle death very well’ and so handles it in his own way, which in this case involved him ‘locking himself in his room’ and not speaking to anyone else.
However, he had an event later that day, which 1,500 people had paid tickets to attend, and he didn’t want to let them down by cancelling his appearance.
‘He will more than likely do it. I don’t know how he does it. He’ll just dig deep and find his space, because he is a showman and that is what they do, rain, sun or shine. He’ll put on a show and he’ll do what he needs to do,’ Paris said.
The heavyweight champion slammed knife violence, calling individuals who commit violent actions with blades “cowards” who should face terrible punishment.
‘It’s cowardly tricks. If they’d have went outside and had a scrap, someone would have had a busted nose. Big wow. This morning, he’d have been healing a cut up, a scratch,’ he said.
‘But now, one fella’s in a morgue, and one fella’s getting 30 years in prison, so what has that solved? Emphasises how fragile life is. You go out for a beer, watch your boxing, wind up dead.’
Tyson then arrived at the pre-arranged event with Paris and his father, John Fury, who saw that his son’s eyes were filled with ‘despair’ and ‘unhappiness’ while posing for photos with fans.
Before heading out on stage, the fans in attendance could be heard chanting Tyson’s name, who admitted that he was ‘feeling awful’ but ‘putting on a brave face for people who’ve paid for tickets’.
‘I don’t like cancelling and stuff like that, so I’m just gonna go out here now and do what I do, do my job,’ he stated.
When the presentation began, Tyson spoke up about his retirement and spending time with his family before informing his audience of the devastating news he’d received.
‘That was a real eye-opener for me. I’ve had my blood turned cold because you never know when your time’s up and you’re only one phone call away from disaster. So it’s been a real, real awakening day that I’ve had. I’ve had that many emotions today. I’m not really too sure how to handle it. I’m shocked, to be fair,’ he said into the microphone.
Tyson admitted to his followers that he’d had a “day from hell,” but added that he was “happy” he could talk to them about what he was going through.
At Home With The Furys is available to watch on Netflix.
