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Fury Abruptly Announces Retirement
By: Sean Crose
“Boxing is the saddest thing I ever took part in,” controversial heavyweight champ Tyson Fury tweeted this morning. “All a pile of shit, I’m the greatest, & I’m also retired, so go suck a d–k, happy days.” And thus, with one charming tweet, the king of the heavyweight division supposedly left the sport of boxing. There’s little doubt the tweet was very Tysonesque, but who knows if Fury will actually stick with this retirement. Truth be told, it’s been hard to imagine what the guy will do all along. Fury’s always been erratic, after all. Lately, however, the train seems to have gone off the figurative rails for the man.
For, after pulling out of his rematch with Wladimir Klitschko for vague medical reasons, Fury was hit with a media firestorm after word came out late last week that he had tested positive for cocaine use in September. Considering the long awaited rematch with Klitschko was scheduled for October, things weren’t boding well for the reputation of the man who refers to himself as “The Gypsy Kind.” Indeed, the guywho had stunned the world last year after knocking Klitschko off his heavyweight throne had clearly fallen from on high.
And now the story has ended – maybe. Who knows how things will unfold? Many felt Fury would surely lose his belts for the positive coke test – which was administered by VADA. Has the man saved the sanctioning bodies whose belts he holds/held the trouble now? What happens if a second, perhaps almost expected tweet, emerges claiming the man wasn’t really being serious when he “retired?” Will his initial announcement, crass as it was, still stand? Again, it’s hard to tell. What isn’t hard to tell is that the entire Fury saga is showcasing a very difficult time for a man who – believe it or not – has some real talent.
True, Fury beat Klitschko when the Ukrainian heavyweight was closing in on forty, but he still did something few had imagined he ever would. Klitschko’s reign was long, after all, real long. So long, people were comparing it to the reign of Joe Louis. And Fury ended it in thirty-six minutes. Boring though their fight may have been, Fury needed more than just chance to beat Klitschko, he needed skill. Not that any of it is seeming to matter much at the moment. Cocaine use has a way of ruining things like that. As it does lives.
Let’s hope Fury gets his life together…or that this is all just some strange dream we’re having.
UPDATE
To perhaps no one’s surprise, Fury has backtracked on his retirement…or at least has let the world in on the joke.
“Hahahaha,” he’s tweeted. “U think you will get rid of the GYPSYKING that easy!!! I’m here to stay. #TheGreatest just shows u what the Medea are like. Tut tut”
He has also tweeted that things are looking up for him.
“Good news is I’m getting the right help & I’ll be back even stronger than before,” he tweets. “Try & stop me!! God is great, blessed is Jesus.”
Here’s hoping things work out for the man.
