By: Sean Crose
Those “in the know” had written him off before the opening bell. Tyson Fury, they indicated, was an unserious man, certainly not someone to be viewed as a legitimate threat, least of all to the likes of the great Wladimir Klitschko. Then, of course, Fury shocked the world by defeating the previously dominant Klitschko for the Ukrainian’s numerous world heavyweight titles. So much for being “in the know.” The Fury-Klitschko decision upset may have stemmed from a boring, a very boring, fight but the 2015 shocker proved two things: that Wladimir Klitschko, a supersized heavyweight, had trouble with other supersized heavyweights, and that Fury, that jolly clown from Great Britain, was no joke in the ring.
Indeed, as time has moved on, the public has learned that Fury isn’t a joke outside the ring, either. Oh, the guy has his moments, obviously, but Fury’s actually a family man who has had his share of issues. Food. Booze. Drugs. Mental Illness. The journey of Tyson Fury hasn’t been an easy one. With that being said, Fury is, almost a decade after his upset over Klitschko, a two time world heavyweight titlist. Such things – pardon the pun – carry weight. And when a man of Fury’s – again, pardon the pun – stature is dropped and given a real run by a boxing novice, as Fury recently was against MMA great Francis Ngannou, people are going to rightly be disappointed.
Of course Fury has the chance to redeem himself when he battles Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world this February. Usyk is a top notch competitor, however, a fact evidenced by his two fight dominance of Fury’s fellow Englishman Anthony Joshua. The truth is that the Tyson Fury Show is full of surprises. One literally never knows what to expect. Whether he’s being dropped by a much smaller man in Steve Cunningham, being stripped of his world titles, performing brilliantly against Deontay Wilder, going up and down in weight or even discussing his own future, one never knows what Fury is going to bring to the table one minute to the next. One wonders if Fury himself knows.
And that’s what makes the man maddening – and fascinating. How exactly will history judge this towering Englishman? That remains to be seen, which is an odd thing for a fighter who has been in the spotlight for as long as Fury has. When it comes to The Tyson Fury Show, one is as apt to witness brilliance as one is apt to be told it’s the final episode, that the man is retiring. Even then, however, people will have to wait for the truth to reveal itself. Fury is known to hop in and out of retirement, after all. One thing is certain, when Fury finally does hang up the gloves for good, he’ll be remembered (perhaps among other things) for being one of the more fascinating individuals in a sport overflowing with them.
