Tyson Fury: No one knows what is going on with the heavyweight world champion and boxing's fallen idol
As dangerous speculation surrounding his mental state continues, the lineal heavyweight champion of the world's future in boxing remains uncertain
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Your support makes all the difference.The bold statements continue, fools make declarations, the governors of the sanctioning bodies are listening to biased lobbyists and still nobody really knows what is happening with heavyweight boxing's fallen idol Tyson Fury.
Last Friday morning he withdrew from his first and long overdue defence of his three world title belts (WBO, WBA and IBO) against the former champion, Wladimir Klitschko, scheduled for Manchester on October 29. It was, a release from his promoter said, for health reasons; the immediate speculation was that it was mental health reasons, which was a piece of speculation based on repeated claims that the boxer has made about being depressed. It is still a dangerous piece of speculation to peddle as fact.
Fury was briefly ringside in Manchester last Saturday night and I spoke with him and asked how he was feeling? "I keep hearing that I'm mad," he said, he was joking. "There should be some news soon." The news was due on Tuesday and it never arrived. The endless speculation continued with one rival promoter declaring that Fury would be stripped of his individual titles and then walk away from boxing: Pure speculation posing once again as fact.
A plan to somehow match Klitschko with Anthony Joshua, the IBF heavyweight champion, is according to Eddie Hearn, the promoter who predicted that Fury would be stripped and then walk away, being discussed. Klitschko, meanwhile, has booked an arena in Hamburg for a fight on December 10; he is 40 now and has not fought since losing his titles to Fury last November. Joshua will not be in the opposite corner in Hamburg.
The WBO, a sanctioning body based in Puerto Rico, has written to Fury and asked for clarification, proof of the boxer's condition before they decide what to do. He has until October 5 to respond and satisfy the WBO's medical advisors. It is a pity they failed to be as stringent nearly 20 years ago when they ranked a dead fighter three places higher after he had died and was miraculously linked with a fight against Joe Calzaghe. "It can happen, it's a pity," the WBO's Paco Valcarcel told me at the time. He was not joking.
The WBA, based in Panama, recognises three different world champions at 17 different weights and last year they also ranked a dead boxer. The WBA will, no doubt, also want clarification from Fury's doctors before making a decision about their champion's status. It is understandable that the two organisations want to see their fee from heavyweight fights resume. In theory both sanctioning bodies could strip Fury or offer him a spell as their champion in recess, which would allow Klitschko to fight for one or both of his old belts in December in Hamburg. If Fury is made the recess champion of sorts, which is an annoying status that exists across many other weights, then he would get a fight with the champion next year.
The IBF stripped Fury last December and since then has received substantial fees from the three heavyweight fights that have taken place for their belt. No doubt the WBO and WBA are envious and desperately keen to start pocketing money from heavyweight fights for their baubles, especially as they had previously had a wealthy decade of regular Klitschko massacres to prop up their bank balance. However, a super championship fight like Fury against Klitschko would generate far more cash than most other heavyweight fights during the last decade.
As soon as the real reason for Fury's sad withdrawal is known it will be far easier to predict what will happen in the coming months. The boxer's mental state should not be something that is hit across a negotiating table like a ping pong ball by men and women with no real knowledge of his condition and too much invested in him actually being as mad as he joked he was.
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