The rise and fall of world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has been more about the boxer fighting his inner demons than troubles in the ring.
Fury burst onto the professional scene with seven knock-outs within four rounds between December 2008 and July 2009.
He was hailed as a sensation and tipped as a future champion.
By July 2015, he was the unified world champion, holding the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring heavyweight titles against Ukraine fighter Wladimir Klitschko, who had reigned supreme for a decade.
Winning the titles was the trigger for Fury’s self-destruction.
Banned substances
He never seemed to cope with the pressure and started to slide downhill almost from when he was proclaimed champion.
Klitschko wanted a rematch, which was arranged for Manchester in July 2016.
Fury pulled out after announcing he was unfit and carrying a calf injury. Immediately, Fury and his cousin were accused of taking banned substances in a doping scandal.
The fight was cancelled again after a few weeks, amid rumours that Fury had failed another doping test.
Fury also attacked his critics for racist taunts.
“I am a gypsy and that’s it. I will always be a gypsy, I’ll never change. I will always be fat and white and that’s it. I am the champion yet I am thought of as a bum,” he said.
Stripped of licence to fight
“I am moving out of the country. I am going to America where champions are better thought of. I am moving to Los Angeles where people have a better life. I made the decision last week to go where people admire success.”
Later, Fury relinquished his WBO and WBA heavyweight champion belts.
Having told Rolling Stone, the US magazine, that he had tested positive for taking cocaine to treat depression, the British Boxing Board of Control has withdrawn his licence to fight.
Technically, that means Fury is not allowed to box in the UK or worldwide, but he could seek a licence from another board.
In a statement, Fury, 28, said: ““I won the titles in the ring and I believe that they should be lost in the ring but I’m unable to defend at this time and I have taken the hard and emotional decision to now officially vacate my treasured world titles and wish the next-in-line contenders all the very best as I now enter another big challenge in my life which I know, like against Klitschko, I will conquer.”