Sometimes, when a person has many achievements in one field, we tend to forget that he/she is very much a human being with their own fears, failings, and other dimensions to their personality.
Many would know Tyson Fury as a former world heavyweight boxing champion but a story he shared on social media shows that at heart, he’s also a great human being.
The “Gypsy King” posted a video on Instagram on December 2 and said that a stranger who was contemplating suicide just showed up at his house asking to speak to him. Normally, celebrities don’t like people they don’t know just showing up at their homes.
But instead of turning the man away, Tyson talked to the “random stranger” and learned that he was planning to take his own life but wanted to speak to the boxer first.
He continued: “So obviously, me being me, I talked me out of it and took him on a three-mile run. He left as happy as Larry and it seems to have worked.
“To all those people out there suffering from mental health problems, please do not take your own life.
“It will get better, I promise you. There is help around the corner, please seek medical advice immediately and you will return to what you once were.
“It ain’t over, it wasn’t over then and it ain’t over now. Come on people don’t give up; keep fighting and never say die.
“Like I got up in round 12 against Wilder, keep getting up no matter how many times it puts you down, keep going forward because we never surrender.”
Tyson didn’t reveal the identity of the man but what’s important is that he saved the man’s life.
Tyson himself has faced his own share of mental health issues and once contemplated driving his Ferrari off the road. He took time off in 2016 and 2017 to deal with his depression and drug addiction and has now become an advocate of “smashing the stigma,” and this could have played a part in the other man deciding to talk to the boxer first.
Tyson followed up with another post on Instagram where he shared a message from someone named “James,” who was planning to kill himself a few weeks earlier while at work because of debt problems.
But he “came to his senses” after listening to Tyson on TalkSport.
Tyson added: “Thanks James, I am so humbled reading this message, God bless, and I will continue the work on smashing the stigma.”
Replaced!