Tyson Fury: His Own Worst Enemy at Times… But Give the Guy a Break for What He Achieved in the Ring!

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Tyson Fury is ill.

How ill remains to be seen but this man deserves the time to recuperate that ill people should have.

It does not and it shall not stop the vitriol or articles like this that speculate on what is happening in the aftermath of that fact.

Let me begin by stating that I do not like what Tyson Fury believes and find some of his antics less than admirable. I am however a staunch defender of his right to be who he is and to behave the way he likes. Both of those elements of this personality do, I think offer us clues to what has happened to this flawed but likeable big fella.

I truly think that Tyson Fury wanted to become World Heavyweight Champion. Of that, I believe there is utterly no doubt. I truly think that Tyson Fury does not want to BE the World Heavyweight Champion. Of that, I believe there is much confusion. The two can be mutually exclusive and it is more than just the difference from being a challenger and being a champion. Tyson Fury was the hungry guy but now he is sickened by the feast of opportunities and focus that has rained down upon him and his family.

Tyson believes that he is being persecuted for his beliefs. He believes that he is being racially abused because of his traveling heritage and cites the way in which his achievements have been reduced to negative headlines and criticism over his beliefs. I have some sympathy for him. I can find little by way of direct racist comment on his heritage but the lack of acceptance by the “elite” as he is an uncultured media nightmare for any PR man is palpable. Tyson does not always help himself and the sound bites start as a bit of fun that fun truly ends when they bite back.

Tyson believes that he should be lauded for his achievement in taking the titles away from a guy who reigned supreme for 11 years and only he, Tyson Fury, got them off him. He should. The lack of respect he has been shown though is a combination of revenge from a sport that was troubled by some of his outbursts – like the ones for which he was heavily fined – at the Derrick Chisora press conference and the general hypocrisy of a society that wants “character” in their celebrities and then hangs them for having one. Tyson Fury pulled off one of the most remarkable sporting achievements of this century and is not seen as a hero but as someone who is fair game.

He does not have a drug problem. There is no scandal attached to his behavior or name and he does not conform to the liberal activities of a generation on reality TV. He is so straight he is a misfit. Some media outlets therefore need to poke this bear to get a headline.
Tyson believes he is being hounded unfairly. If he has failed a drug test – and I stress IF – and if he has abused a drug official as has been claimed, then there is a process to be gone through.

It does not need to be public.

It never needed to be public.

Someone, somewhere took that decision and alerted the press. From there the whole thing took off and it all looks daft. Tyson and Hughie fail a drug test, they let Tyson fight anyway, he wins the world title and THEN it becomes an issue?
I am no lawyer and I certainly aint no sportsman but how can a drug test administered months and years ago be relevant now? Surely he needed to be dealt with at the time to prevent the types of headlines that have come from friendly hacking bears or the world’s press short of a hold the front page headline?

Tyson believes that the media have it in for him. I don’t disagree. The problem is that Tyson HAS been on a binge publicly with England fans in France, insulted gay men, women and some of our female sports stars and turned up to support cousin Hosea Burton on Friday night in Manchester after the announcement of his fight being off. All of these are not helping his cause. What is admirable is that he does not hide behind a PR put up defense and says, yes I believe in that, I am sorry if I upset people with this and have had enough of it all so leave me alone. It may be uncomfortable but he has naked honesty in his arsenal; do we really value artifice and lies above it?

Here is a young man who is not yet 30 years of age that we have abused.

I believe that we expect far too much from him and we should applaud his abilities in a square ring and stop chasing his views on life outside it.

We should applaud his ability to make us smile – whether as Batman or Fatman – and support his right to be different.

If this postponement is down to depression, he needs time to recover properly. I do think the governing bodies will do something about the titles because they don’t see Tyson like I do. They see carousels of cash and will turf people off to keep the thing spinning. The IBF showed that when they took the belt off him and started the Anthony Joshua World title roadshow. The WBO have given Tyson 10 days to prove he is medically unfit to fight or that belt goes too.

We do have a choice.

Keep supporting the people who write the guff or start to support the guy who provides us with a sport worth following?

If we are not careful we shall end up with clowns and counterfeits – none of us want that. Eventually such figures of fun believe their own PR and end up running for office…

Right now I wish Tyson all the guidance, support and wonder that a family – a true family – that he has around him shall be providing him right now. It makes him the richest man on the planet and a blessed one who we want to see back in the ring.

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