"Many men would have stayed down after being knocked down by Deontay Wilder but I wanted to show the world that anything was possible," Tyson Fury told the viewers at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards on Sunday night.
The 30-year-old fought to a split draw against Wilder in their WBC heavyweight title fight earlier this month. He did so three years after becoming world heavyweight champion with a shock win over Wladimir Klitschko.
In between, he fell into a spiral of drug and alcohol abuse.
"No matter what you've been through in your life and no matter what you're going through, you must always continue to get back up and keep going forward and fight back," said Fury.
"We need to spread the word on mental health more in sport because a lot of people are still living in darkness and are too afraid to come out and speak about it publicly.
"If I can do it - heavyweight champion, six foot nine, 18 stone, I'm supposed to be a big tough guy - anybody can do it.
"Anybody can get help, for sure."
"If I can do it, anybody can."@Tyson_Fury's message on mental health is one we all need to hear#MondayMotivation #SPOTY pic.twitter.com/GTOVedqwIp
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 17, 2018
