How to fuel a heavyweight like Tyson Fury: 3,500-calorie days, blended veg, and secret salmon

Beating Tyson Fury is a mighty challenge, considering only Oleksandr Usyk has managed to do it in 37 professional fights. However, another battle, which might be just as tough, is getting him to eat salmon. One man has also conquered that obstacle.

“He doesn’t really like fish,” said Anthony Pressley, the British heavyweight star’s former chef. “Tyson’s very particular about what he likes and doesn’t like, and so I would I’d say: ‘Tyson, we gotta eat salmon three days a week. We need those Omega-6s’.

“He’s like: ‘Alright, we’ll do it, but just don’t tell me when we’re gonna do it’. So I make this egg noodle pasta, I tossed it in parmesan, and it was just so creamy and yummy, and then I seared the salmon with basil, salt, pepper and put it on there.

“He sits down and he takes a bite of it. I’m s***ting myself, worried about what he will think, and he looks at me. He goes: ‘This is the best salmon I’ve ever eaten — we can eat this three times a week!’”

Feeding a heavyweight may seem like an easier task than boxers in lower divisions because they don’t have to make certain limits on the scales. But ensuring that the giants of the sport are fuelled up for the gruelling training regimes they must put their large frames through to get ready for big fights is no mean feat.

Ahead of Fury’s latest comeback clash against Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov this weekend, The Athletic spoke to Fury’s former cook Pressley and Anthony Joshua’s high-performance nutritionist Mark Ellison to get an insight into the art of feeding elite heavyweight boxers.

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The biggest difference with heavyweights from other divisions is that, usually, they don’t need to make weight, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have to lose mass or can just eat whatever they want.

Fury, 37, is a perfect case study of that. The two-time world champion makes no secret that he piles on the pounds between fights. That means he has to lose weight in preparation for them.

The British star’s fight with Derek Chisora on December 4, 2022, was the last time Pressley, an American, worked with Fury. For that bout, he arrived for the start of training camp at 294lbs. The target was 268lbs.

“Just because we’re talking heavyweights, that doesn’t mean we can be any weight,” said Pressley. “We have to look at our opponent. We may need to be a little heavier, we may need to be a little bit lighter. The team decides that, and I work on it.

“We did do a cut, but it’s a lot easier because Tyson trains really hard and he’s very disciplined with his food. But once a week, we would do a barbecue and it would be burgers and fries. I didn’t fry any of the potatoes, of course, but it was a treat just to give him a good refuel.”

Fury’s calorie intake would be dependent on the training schedule. It varied from 3,500 calories on high-intensity days to 2,700 on recovery days.

“I’m gonna charge him up, make sure he’s got enough fuel to get him through those sessions,” said Pressley, who worked alongside nutritionist George Lockhart, with Fury training twice a day in camp.

Lockhart and Pressley would come together to ensure Fury was getting the right amount of carbohydrates, proteins and fats to lose weight, but enough to fuel someone who is a huge unit preparing for a 12-round fight, which is 36-minutes of high-intensity action. It’s not just guesswork; it is all detailed, and the meals are built to suit, even if there are cheat days, such as those barbecues.

“And we’ve got hydration as well,” said Pressley. “So, you know your salt, all of that plays into factor because Tyson sweats a lot, so we have to replenish that as well.”

Ellison, co-founder of Haute Performance and high-performance nutritionist of GB Boxing, as well as a former performance nutritionist to Andy Murray and Manchester United, adds on fluids: “Heavyweights are so big, their sweat losses will be far greater than their peers.

“Boxing gyms are notoriously hot and sweaty, so during this intense period of training, they might have doubled their output.

“We do sweat tests with our athletes so we know what their sweat rate is in an average session, but generally, a big guy in an intense phase of training will probably need six-plus litres of fluid per day.”

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Joshua, 36, did have to make weight for his last fight. That’s because he was restricted in the contract for his bout against YouTuber Jake Paul to 245lbs. It was nothing unusual as he had weighed below that for numerous fights, including his clashes with Usyk and a rematch win over Andy Ruiz Jr back in 2019.

Ellison outlines the numbers in detail when preparing meal plans for heavyweights he works with, including Joshua.

“Heavyweights are all different,” said Ellison. “There are some who are big but not particularly lean, but can carry their weight. Then you’ve got the likes of (Deontay) Wilder, who’s quite skinny and small, and probably always trying to grow a little bit.

“We’re going to take the example of a heavyweight who’s around 115kg (253.5lbs) and in the busiest part of their training camp when they could be doing two sessions a day including 12 or 15 rounds of sparring, some good volume on their running and tagging their conditioning work onto the back of it, doing some core work, dips, press-ups and pull-ups.

“All the guidelines we have are often based upon grams (of carbohydrate/fat/protein) per kilo of body weight.

“For someone like Joshua, who’s averaged around 115kg in recent years, on the big days you could get up to six grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of bodyweight, so that would come out at 690g of carbs.

“In his last fight against Jake Paul, he actually had to make weight but was still getting about 400g of carbs each day — and that was to lose weight, not maintain it.

“In terms of protein, I always have a foundation for my athletes of about two grams per kilo of body weight of protein. I always aim for anywhere from 0.9 to 1.1 grams per kilo of fat. Assuming we’re getting 2 grams per kilo of protein, for a 115kg fighter, that’s 230 grams of protein, which equates to 920 calories.

“Fat, at one gram per kilo, is 115g, which is 1,035 calories. Carbohydrate-wise, six grams per kilo is 690g of carbs, and that’s 2,760 calories. All of which comes out to 4,715 calories per day. That’s what we’re aiming for on those big days, but even with the best plans, no one ever achieves these precise numbers.

“With Joshua, I will set the macros (the numbers of carbohydrates, fat and protein he needs each day) and then we use a tool called Hexis, which gives his chef a bit of freedom to populate the plans throughout the day.”

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Pressley became a performance chef after shedding 200lbs himself and entering a cooking competition show for amateurs, judged by one of his idols, Gordon Ramsay. He didn’t get onto the TV segment of the show but it inspired him to begin meal prepping, and it eventually led to working with athletes.

Cooking for heavyweights such as Joseph Parker, who introduced him to Fury, is one challenge, but helping American former world welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr, who had to battle to make 147lbs, was a different project.

“With Errol, I have to measure out my salt for the whole day and not go over that salt, or count out four and a half almonds per portion,” he said. “That’s the detail we go into, that is how strict it is.”

Fury liked to challenge him, too. The British heavyweight would continually question if he could eat as much as Pressley was putting in front of him, especially the Greek-style chicken wraps he would devour four times a week for lunch.

How a Tyson Fury daily meal plan might look

Breakfast

• Bowl of fruit
• Oats
• Scrambled eggs
• Lean turkey sausage

Lunch

• Large Greek-style wraps with chicken, fresh tzatziki

Dinner

Pre/post-training snacks

• Yoghurt
• Fruit
• Granola
• Protein shakes

“You know Tyson would always make it fun,” said the Arizona chef. “Maybe like the night before, he’d be like: ‘Press, I’d like an All-American breakfast tomorrow’. Even though I’m American, that confused me.

“He goes: ‘You know, steak, eggs, potatoes’, so then I would whip him up that.”

Joshua also likes steak and eggs on occasion, but Ellison sticks to giving that on recovery days.

Another challenge with cooking for Fury is his aversion to vegetables.

“I would have blended them into sauces so he wouldn’t really know, but he’s still getting the nutrition,” added Pressley, who has written a cookbook called ‘Eat Like A Champion’ which details some fighters’ favourite meals.

How an Anthony Joshua daily meal plan might look

Breakfast

• Porridge with dates, dark chocolate and honey
• Fruit
• Three to five poached eggs
• Toast

Lunch

• Chicken
• Rice or pasta
• Light salad

Dinner

Supper

• Brazil nuts
• Yoghurt
• Dark chocolate
• Honey
• Cherry Juice

Pre/post-training snacks

• Protein shakes
• Fruit smoothies
• Yoghurt
• Fruit
• Granola
• Banana and peanut butter shake

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Supplements are also key for many reasons, but Ellison uses creatine, a naturally occurring compound that helps energy production, to aid in the battle against concussion, something very important in boxing, given the dangers involved.

“There’s a big push now for proactive creatine-use around concussion,” added Ellison. “We’ve used it for many years for its benefits around power, strength and recovery — it’s probably the most researched supplement we’ve had.

“But in recent years, there’s been a myriad of studies looking at different nutrients that might have a role to play in the management of concussion.

“We’re taking it year-round, so there’s no need to load it. With Joshua, we’re probably close to 10g per day, just to maintain levels.”

It’s all part of the process of ensuring the stars of the sport can perform.

Feeding heavyweights takes more than just piling in the calories because they’re big men. There’s a science to it and, seemingly, some salmon. If it is tasty enough for Tyson Fury, that is.