As Tyson Fury gears up for his upcoming bouts against formidable opponents like Francis Ngannou and Oleksandr Usyk, the curiosity about the Gypsy King’s diet regimen intensifies. Standing at an imposing 6-foot-9 and weighing over 19 stone, Fury’s nutritional choices become a fascinating aspect of his preparation for the ring.
In an exclusive interview conducted by Betway, we delve into the culinary world of Tyson Fury with insights provided by his renowned nutritionist, George Lockhart.
Beyond the specifics of Fury’s diet, Lockhart spills the beans on the reigning heavyweight champion’s food preferences, shedding light on the surprising and quirky choices that fuel the boxing powerhouse.
While the headline, “Tyson Fury’s shock food favourites that make him heavyweight champion,” captures the essence of our conversation with Lockhart, the interview extends beyond Fury’s plate. Lockhart shares intriguing details about the boxer’s fondness for black pudding, fish, and spicy delights.
But the conversation doesn’t end there. Lockhart, in his role as a nutritionist, also provides keen insights into the dietary habits of other prominent heavyweights.
From his thoughts on Joseph Parker’s regimen to an outlook on Conor McGregor’s upcoming fights, Lockhart’s expertise goes beyond Fury, offering a comprehensive glimpse into the nutritional strategies of the boxing elite.
SHM: What do you expect to be the weight the fighters (Joseph Parker, Tyson Fury and Tommy Fury) ahead of their upcoming fights?
GL: We went to the Eubank fight the other night and everybody’s like, ‘dude, Joe, he’s losing so much weight!’. He’s actually put on about seven or eight kilos, but he’s lost a lot of body fat and packed on some serious muscle. But he’s leaner now, so with his shirt on he looks smaller – but he’s definitely not!
For Tyson, he’s like clockwork, the exact same way every single time. It’s almost like you press play, and repeat. We’ve found the formula he likes, and the weight that he wants to be at.
SHM: Tyson’s had a new baby with Paris. What’s it been like in the household since then?
GL: Everybody’s been great, and Tyson’s obviously in great spirits. He obviously spent time at the hospital, and then when the baby came he came back. He literally trained hours after his son was born. But he’s happy and as excited as can be expected.
SHM: Tommy has a huge fight against KSI; what are your thoughts on that fight, George?
GL: Yeah, it’s crazy. We’ve worked with KSI before, and he’s a really good guy. Real nice guy. But obviously I’m biased with Tommy, and I don’t think we’ve seen the best version of Tommy come out yet. Take the last fight with Jake, and the amount of pressure. The kid was 22, or 23 years old, and the amount of pressure that was on him: the family name, boxing vs YouTuber. But he went out there, did what he was supposed to do, and he got the win.
But now, having been under those lights and dealt with that pressure, I think he’s going to get better and better. And I think this fight, we’re going to really see that. I think he comes out on top easier. It’s not going to go the distance. If he shows what he can do and what I’ve seen him do a training, he’s going to demolish KSI.
SHM: And what about Tyson against Francis?
GL: I think it’s a no brainer. You’ve got to look at range, you’ve got to look at boxing IQ, movement, and conditioning. If you watch Ngannou and his fights, they’re not like a volume of punches that he throws in an MMA fight.
I mean, if you look at that versus Tyson and the amount of volume that that man can throw, I just don’t see the range. Like I said, it’s about boxing IQ. If Tyson couldn’t move, maybe. But the guy moves like a middleweight, but he’s 270 freaking pounds! But that was that lucky punch, right? Everybody’s like, well, what if he hits him?
SHM: How many calories does Tyson Fury eat in camp?
GL: Tyson’s very steady. Whether it’s an intense day or a light day, he’ll wake up and be almost the exact same weight, no matter what. He has a little bit more of the higher fats.
Though, he’s not actually a big eater like a lot of people would think. When I started working with him, I thought I would be cooking for a freaking army, but that’s not the case.
SHM: What meals does he eat on a day-to-day basis in camp?
GL: Obviously it’s a mixture of everything, every single meal. At breakfast, he’ll usually get black pudding, which is really high in iron, eggs… I actually give a lot of lean pork to him and Joseph (Parker). Chicken too. I’ll do red meat on days that they’re off, to give their body the time to digest – red meant is the most nutrient-dense meat out there, but it also takes time to digest, so I don’t want to be giving it to him every day.
SHM: Is it true one of Tyson Fury’s guilty pleasures is turkey dinosaurs.
GL: Yeah, he’s got a lot of funny guilty pleasures! He’s definitely got a sweet tooth too, but if you bread stuff and crisp stuff up, it’s definitely a lot more enjoyable than a regular grilled chicken. But I think it’s because he’s got seven kids, you know what I’m saying? Just probably indulging in a couple of freaking chicken nuggets here and there!
SHM: What does Tyson not like?
With Tyson, he’s not a big fan of veg, so I cook a lot for long periods of time to mask the flavour. I’ll do it with chicken broth or bone broth. Or you can do it in a rice for a long period of time, so you can’t really taste it and blend it in. But as the camp progresses, obviously veg has got to go up to make sure they’re getting all their micronutrients.
SHM: Does Tyson have around 5, 000 calories a day?
GL: No, honestly. Right now, I would say that it’s probably maybe 3,500, but it depends. As he gets closer to the fight, obviously output starts going up. As the fight gets close, in the last two weeks, he’ll probably be eating 5,000 6,000 calories. His weight just like plummets towards the end. Joe, on the other hand, is easily over 5, 000 a day. Like, wow.
SHM: Before a fight, when will Tyson eat before fight?
GL: Basically, your body can only hold so many grams of carbohydrates. Like the old adage where it’s like ‘okay, we have a game tomorrow, so we’re going to go load up on pasta’.
Just because you eat an extra amount of pasta, it doesn’t mean your body’s going to give you more carbs. It’s only got so much storage space, unless you create a stimulus to tell them to work.
So, one of the biggest goals here in fight camp is to find exactly what they do and what works best for them. So, every time we spar, we treat it like a fight day.
So, I’m like ‘okay, well, if he ate three hours prior, how did he feel?’. And that’s what we use by camp for. We find that magic number. So, four hours out, we’re going to have this exact meal that works well for Tyson, and he digests it well.
SHM: What tends to be the first meal for Tyson after a fight?
GL: It’s going to be a little different because we’re going to be in Saudi, and the place we’re at has a stupid buffet. They have the cleanest food. So, I guess we’re actually fine.
We’re going there and it’s not going to be a one day! I think it’s going to be a plethora of everything. Tyson’s big thing is spicy – which surprised the hell out of me when I started working with him. But then I think it’s right back to it.
That’s, that’s what I tell myself anyway! Who knows what he eats when I actually leave. They’re probably like ‘oh, yeah, I’m going to have some sushi’, but they probably go get a bunch of doughnuts.
SHM: But when fighting in the UK, would McDonald’s be ordered or anything like that?
GL: No! The last time, I ended up cooking. After Wembley, when Tyson fought at Wembley, I went back to the house, the family was at the house in London, and I just ended up cooking a bunch of chicken.
Obviously, I was a little bit more liberal with the oils and everything else and the fries were crispy – I think I cooked them in duck fat. It was so good. We had a feast. I think it’s the environment that means more than anything.
SHM: Have you created a cookbook?
G: Yeah I have a cookbook out. They’re super simple recipes. It’s an e-book, so you can get it online. If you go to Lockloaded Nutrition, it’ll be on the bio there. If you think of any fighter that you could possibly think of, like Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, freaking KSI, Tommy, Conor McGregor – they’ve all been certified by us.
So that’s in my bio, if anybody’s ever interested. We’re actually looking for people, because there’s a lot of fighters – at the moment, I’m actually staying with Joseph Parker and I’m going to be with him until the end of his career.
SHM: What is Conor like in terms of nutrition?
GL: So I didn’t actually work with Tank (Davis)- Elliot Buckley is the guy who works with But obviously I worked with Conor for about six years. I remember he loved lamb. I used to cook a shit-ton of lamb for him! I got so good at cooking lamb, but that was his big go to. For Tyson, it’s fish and chips, and Joe it’s fish. They’re fueling the stereotypes!
SHM So, with Connor, in terms of the food side of things, does he tends to eat clean?
GL: I would say he was definitely a big sweets guy; you know what I mean? So, he was on a good diet… whiskey and protein, you can’t beat that!