TYSON FURY has had his dark days, we know that. But heโs also showing a masterful knack for positive reinforcement. โI am the greatest heavyweight of all time, I ainโt got to be modest, I am the best ever, me, Tyson Fury, the Gypsy King, the one and only. When you look at all these fighters today, whoโs active, when has there ever been somebody like me?โ he proclaims.
Itโs hard to argue that Tyson Fury is one of kind. Only his most ardent supporters would compare him to Muhammad Ali, although the man himself finds one particular storyline hard to resist. โYouโve got the lineal champion, the real Mac, whoโs been in exile for three years like Muhammad Ali was and youโve got the other guys who have done their thing in the meantime,โ the former champion reasoned. โOnce I come back, I am back and then Iโll take over again, just like Muhammad Ali done. Nobody gave him a chance. Iโm sure all the journalists and all the boxing pundits around the world are saying after three years I canโt do it again. I shocked you all the first time and Iโm to shock everybody for the second time.
โFans can expect to see me at my best. The most flamboyant heavyweight on the planet.โ
That might be a stretch. Fury’s three exile wasn’t due to protesting an overseas war, he was struggling with personal issues and resolving a convoluted anti-doping case with UKAD. But nevertheless, if you hadnโt heard before, Fury is indeed coming back. He wants the other guys, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, the heavyweights who between them hold the four majorย world titles. This Saturday, at the Manchester Arena, Tyson fights little known Albanian Sefer Seferi. Donโt expect this opponent to put up much of a challenge but Fury does promise to be busy. He wants to fight four times before the year is out and insists he can challenge for a world title once again in 2018.
Fury has spent time at an event with Roy Jones Jnr and got some words of advice from the American legend. โHe just told me not to live a life of regrets. Iโve got a massive opportunity to go down as one of the best heavyweights of all times. I have the dance partners to achieve that; Wilder, Joshua and whoever else. Itโs a great time to be heavyweight,โ Fury said. โThese guys are looking for one right hand all night so I can look like Roy Jones against them. Against the fighters like weโve got today, the big punching one-punch knockout artists, somebody like me with skill and confidence can look like Roy Jones Jnr in there against a couple of bums and thatโs what they will look like if they ever fight me.โ
Fury might well look like Roy Jones against Sefer Seferi, Wilder and Joshua of course are quite another matter. Itโs a long road still to reach those fights. The first step takes place Saturday in Manchester.
To read the full preview of Tyson Furyโs comeback donโt miss this weekโs edition of Boxing News magazine