Tommy Fury opens up on his struggle returning to the ring before Kenan Hanjalic fight

Tommy Fury will end his near year-and-a-half absence from the ring by fighting Kenan Hanjalic in Budapest this evening (9 May).

The former Love Island star and brother of Tyson fury has not fought since beating YouTuber KSI in October 2023.

In an interview with Good Morning Britain, the cruiserweight revealed his long and troubled journey back to the ring.

Fury revealed in 2019 he injured all the ligaments in his hand during his first fight after returning from Love Island but fought through the injury until 2023.

He said: “In 2019, after I just came out of Love Island, I had my first fight back, and in that fight, I tore and snapped all the ligaments in my hand. I had to have reconstructive surgery on the middle knuckle in my right hand. And so that led me to be out the ring for obviously coming up to two years now.”

In 2023, Fury welcomed his daughter Bambi and beat both KSI and Jake Paul, describing it as the best year of his life. The surgery turned things on their head for him, however, stripping him of the one thing he had known all his life – which he had trouble coming to terms with.

Fury explained: “I’ve never had another job outside of boxing. I’ve never done anything. I’ve always thought, breathed, and ate boxing. When you do that for such a long time, and then all of a sudden you’re sat in a hospital bed and you’re thinking to the future...”

This forced hiatus from boxing took a significant toll on Fury, who struggled with drinking and admitted that once he found himself on that path, it was hard to pull himself away.

Fury said: “‘What am I going to do to pass the time? How am I going to get through this?’ You know, you fall into a little bit of a dark place, and obviously, being in a position where boxing is everything, the fact that I couldn’t do that and I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning and do what I wanted to and do what makes me happy, I just thought: ‘Sod it all.’”

He added: “Then you go down that dark route, and then you go down there for a few weeks, and you end up staying there for a very long time. That has consequences.”

Now recovered from his injury and feeling confident that his hand will hold up, the social-media star says he is more than ready to put the last year of his life behind him.

Fury said: “2024 was the worst year of my life, and this year is going to be the best year of my life, and it starts on Friday. I've turned it all around. I'm happy mentally now. I feel like you’ve got to go through these challenges in life.”

Fury's return to the ring in Budapest marks the end of a challenging chapter in his life. After battling injury, uncertainty, and personal struggles, the cruiserweight is ready to step back into familiar territory, aiming to leave the past behind.