By Norm Frauenheim –
Tyson Fury, lineal heavyweight champion and undisputed populist, is back. Correct that. He never left. He’s still at the proverbial pulpit, but more as a comedian than a bully.
He never retired, of course. We knew that. He knew that. But it was a show, a lousy lounge act full of one liners and rhetorical feints. Fury needs a microphone the way the rest of us need oxygen.
That’s why he’s so much fun. That’s why he’s so exasperating. That’s also why he gets away with it — all with a wink, nod and sometimes a few lyrics from Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie.
From this corner, he’s a better singer than a comedian. But he’s neither Frank Sinatra nor Richard Pryor. What he is — who he is — has never been in dispute. He’s a great heavyweight, as cunning and clever as any.
The good news: That’s a role he’ll continue to play. Actually, it’s the only news.
Amid a flurry of Fury one-liners this week, the only headline is further confirmation that Fury’s retirement was really a vacation. There’s only one reliable guide on Fury. To wit: As long as he’s talking, he’s still active. When he’s fighting — who he’s fighting — are questions without answers.
At least, there were no answers in headlines over the last few days that said Fury was wanted to fight Derek Chisora for a third time. Fury has already beaten Chisora twice. What’s to prove in a third?
A trilogy was news to Chisora. News, too, for co-promoter Bob Arum, who told Dan Rafael’s Fight Freaks to pay no attention. It was just another performance with the microphone from Fury, said Arum, who went on to say that Fury is waiting on the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony rematch a week from Saturday in Saudi Arabia.
That’s the smart thing, the only thing remotely believable. Between opening bells, however, Fury isn’t interested in believable. He just wants an audience, and he got one just as the media megaphone began to shift its attention to Usyk-Joshua 2.
Fury’s UK promoter Frank Warren also is confident he’ll fight again, although Warren’s tone isn’t as skeptical as the ever-forthright Arum.
“I speak to him all the time, Warren told Sky Sports. “If he wants to fight, he’ll fight. I’m not going to tempt him. Because if he needs that, then he shouldn’t be fighting.
“It’s got to come from him and his heart. Do I think we’ll see Tyson in a ring? I do because I think he’s a fighting man and I think he’ll miss it too much. The fans love him. He’s got a real rapport with the man on the street. He’s different class. And he’ll do what he wants to do.”
Warren knows as well as Fury that an all-UK fight between Fury and Joshua is a biggie. It would make some history and GDP-kind of money. But would is a key qualifier here. Yet, the fair-minded Warren doesn’t think Joshua can beat Usyk, a heavyweight every bit as cunning and clever as Fury. Usyk’s versatile skillset and genius ring IQ prevailed in an upset, a unanimous decision over Joshua last September.
“Against Joshua he looked different class,” said Warren, who watched Usyk in his first two dates at heavyweight in victories over Chazz Witherspoon and Chisora. “He didn’t use any of his physical attributes. I didn’t understand why.
“I felt that he would out-jab him or keep him on the end of the jab and let the right hand go. But he didn’t. He was getting out-jabbed by a smaller guy on the outside. I thought the only way Usyk was going to do any damage was to get underneath inside and work inside.
“But he didn’t have to do that. He was beating him on the outside. How do you fight him? I really do fancy Tyson to beat him.
“I think Tyson is a similar guy in some ways and a much, much bigger guy.”
That’s no punchline.
