Tyson Fury, a deeply religious man of Irish Gypsy descent, became one of the most important men in boxing Saturday when he lifted four heavyweight titles off Wladimir Klitschko. He handed the Ukranian his first loss in more than a decade, and performed a rendition of Aerosmith’s “Don’t Want To Close My Eyes” while Klitschko looked on.
Fury, who is named after former heavyweight great Mike Tyson, is attempting to emulate his namesake with his antics before, during and after fights. Before facing Klitschko, Fury repeatedly called him boring and at one point dressed up like Batman for a press conference. Inside the ring he stuck his chin out, put his hands behind his back, and barked at the champion after almost every round. His brashness came as a contrast to the religious nature he professed afterward.
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Once he’d won, Fury thanked God several times, atoned for past comments about legendary British heavyweight Lennox Lewis, and even lauded Klitschko’s reign. Fury has been a big contradiction, and that includes comments he made regarding homosexuality about a month before his title fight.
“There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the devil comes home: one of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other one’s pedophilia,” Fury told The Daily Mail. “Who would have thought in the 50s and 60s that those first two would be legalized?”
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He also expressed controversial views about women. “A woman’s there to be loved, cook food and have some kids. Like Muslims have their ways, we have ours. There are girls who open their legs to every Tom, Dick and Harry. They are looked upon as rubbish. If I had a sister who did that I’d hang her.”
He also told the Daily Mail that he embraces being named for Tyson and wants to be remembered like him -- which means acting out.
“People think of Mike and they don’t think, ‘Youngest heavyweight champ,’ they think of him raping someone, biting an ear off, being the baddest man on the planet. Anybody can be Mr. Boring. That ain’t me.”
Fury’s act is suddenly confusing. How can a man profess to be devoutly religious, and in the next breath state his aim is to mimic a convicted rapist? That confusion could simply be more of Fury ginning up interest in his title reign.
One thing is for sure, Fury is no longer an unknown, and it’s because of his talking and singing, not his overall lackluster performance in the ring. Even Klitschko’s brother Vitali admitted Fury’s profile is on the rise. “The interest in the next fight will be crazy,” Vitali said after the fight (via The New York Post).
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