Darren Till is dumbfounded by how his saga with Tommy Fury has played out.
Tensions quickly built between the brash Brits at their kickoff pre-fight press conference in November ahead of a scheduled Jan. 18 boxing match. Trash talk was exchanged, water was splashed and security intervened. Liverpool’s Till, 31, framed the clash as a one-man army type of scenario, with him tasked with taking on the whole Fury family. Unfortunately for the one-time UFC title challenger, Till is now without his would-be dance partner for the upcoming Misfits Boxing event.
“It’s extremely shameful and extremely bad on his part,” Till said of Fury on Monday’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “You’ve got a commitment in place to fight and you just pull out. Not even because of an injury. Because of some mean, nasty words were said to you.
“Before the press conference, he was actually saying on a Misfit interview, ’If Darren wants to get crazy, we can get crazier; there’s no one’s crazier than the Furys,’ and stuff like that. It’s shone a bad light on John (Fury) and Tommy. It really has. And even Tyson (Fury). They’ve always prided themselves on being a fighting family.”
Fury, 25, withdrew from the match in early December after revealing fears of Till using “MMA tactics” on fight night.
Till was scheduled to be Fury’s first opponent since a unanimous decision win over Misfits Boxing founder KSI in October 2023.
Should the boxing match still happen at some point in the future, Till believes the change only added fuel and hype to the rivalry.
“It’s just made the fight bigger, hasn’t it? I don’t know,” Till said. “I haven’t got a lot of respect for Tommy, to be honest with you, mate.”
Fury’s reasoning for his withdrawal has a bit of a head-scratcher for many, and Till isn’t sold on its legitimacy. Never shy to have fun with antics ahead of a bout, Till’s plan to “terrorize” the Fury family was going to be made easier by the distance — or lack thereof — between their gyms.
As word of mouth began spreading, Till assumes Fury didn’t like what he was hearing.
“Our gym is close to his gym and there’s a lot of people that train in the gyms and stuff like that,” Till said. “I just believe that he’s heard rumors of how I’m getting on in the gym, in terms of like sparring and stuff like that, because we’ve had a lot of high-profile professionals come in and obviously I’ve been sparring great with these guys. Like, really impressive, even for a lot of the pro boxers in the gym. ‘They’re like, ‘Wow, Till, you’re really impressive, man. Like, you f*cking hit hard, you look good,’ just all that.
“So we just think that he’s heard rumors and he’s just thought, ‘This is just not going to be an easy night.’ You know what I mean? And that’s why we think he’s pulled out. You can’t be pulling out with that excuse, what he gave. It is a terrible excuse.”
Till has only competed once in boxing, earning a second-round stoppage in an exhibition against Mohammad Mutie this past July. He’s heard Misfits Boxing is closing in on a new opponent for him, but nothing is official yet.
In terms of options like retired boxers Carl Froch or Billy Joe Saunders, Till is open to either. That doesn’t mean he sees either as all too realistic, though.
The loss of the Fury fight still stings for Till after investing time and money into camp. All Till can do now is regroup and prepare for whoever stands across from him at the appropriate time.
“Just looking for another opponent,” Till said. “I was devastated, really, to be totally honest with you.
“I know that Misfits are trying hard to get me an opponent. So as I said, anyone, anytime, any place, obviously, January 18. At any weight I said. So, hopefully, someone steps up to the plate.
“I’m probably a little bit upset at the whole situation with Tommy not being able to fight him because that was a big fight and that was a fight to obviously look good in and that,” he concluded. “I was definitely going to beat him and he knows that. So any option at this point I just have to take on the chin and just accept.”