Tyson Fury's Father and Trainer Jailed for 11 Years for Gouging a Man's Eye Out

And you thought the Mayweather clan were a rough bunch.

Compared to "Gypsy" John Fury, the father and trainer of British heavyweight Tyson Fury, the Mayweathers appear to be big wimps.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Fury, 46, was sentenced to an 11-year prison term yesterday in Manchester, England, for gouging the eye out of an ex-friend, Oathie Sykes, 44, over a 12-years-running feud about a bottle of beer.

The two men bumped into each other at a car auction and the beer-fueled feud erupted in ultraviolence.

“It was his finger, it went in my eye, in the corner and he wouldn’t stop, he was like gouging and poking and twisting and poking, all of a sudden I heard this sound, a clicking like, a popping noise and when he took his hand away I realised blood was in his hand, a lot of blood,” Sykes told the court.

"It was like he was trying to pull his finger into my brains through my socket,” he said. “I was screaming, 'Please stop, you’re hurting me.'"

Wow.

Fury, for his part, claimed he could have done much worse than merely popping a man's eyeball, if he was really mad, that is.

"If I was going to do what he said I done to him it would have been a lot worse than that,” Fury said. “I’m a not a feather-duster man.”

Fury pleaded for leniency because of his son, Tyson (who was present for the trial), whose career he has successfully guided up the professional ranks.

"I’m worried about my son,” Fury told the judge. “His boxing future is on the line."

Likewise, Fury's lawyer argued that he is "not a violent man, but someone dedicated to his family and the career of his extremely accomplished son, who plans a world title challenge."

The judge, however, was unimpressed, perhaps figuring that Tyson's future career is fine in the hands of Kronk gym legend Emanuel Steward, who has been working with the Brit heavyweight recently (and who, being a Detroit native, has presumably seen his share of tough customers).

"The fact the root of this dispute which originated more than 12 years ago was so trivial only serves to highlight the senseless nature of the attack," the court said in a statement.