Tyson Fury underwent six hours of surgery after successfully defending his WBC heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder, says father John Fury.
After a fight which was thrilling from the first bell and featured multiple knockdowns, Fury eventually stopped his American opponent in the 11th round.
However, his father has now revealed that the world champion was carrying injuries heading into the bout in Las Vegas, resulting in two lengthy operations during the weeks that followed.
Speaking to BT Sport, Fury said: "Tyson was very badly injured going into that fight. He was handicapped from the beginning. It wasn't a boxing match was it?
"He had to have chromosome injections into both elbows. He's since had an operation, six hours, all day in hospital having them sorted out. He had some bone spurs he had to get removed.
"He said to me afterwards 'I couldn't box, I couldn't work the jab. If I'd missed the jab it would've put me in limp mode and I wouldn't have been able to fight.
"'The pain when throwing the jab was unbearable so I was fighting two people - the pain in my own body and him. All we could do was make it a war and I wanted to win more than he did'."
Fury is expected to return to the ring in the spring, most likely against mandatory challenger and fellow Briton Dillian Whyte. body check tags ::
