Before the Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk fight reaches the emotional crescendo of the news-conference face-off or the dramatic tension of the weigh-in, someone in power ought to think of sending home Fury’s father, John Fury.
All it took Monday, as members of the rival camps crossed each other’s paths inside the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Hilton, was for the Usyk side to chant, “Usyk, Usyk, Usyk!”
That was reason enough for the imposing “Big” John Fury to again assert his penchant for violence and creating mayhem.
The elder Fury found a younger member of Usyk’s team, stepped toward him and delivered a mighty headbutt to the man’s face, deservedly leaving Fury bloodied at the forehead.
He explained afterward that they “disrespected my son. All I could hear was, ‘Usyk, Usyk, Usyk!’ and some little idiot came forward in my space.”
Based on the video replay, that would qualify as revisionist history.
Clearly, the elder Fury sought out the confrontation and initiated the physical attack, catching the man, Stanislav Stepchuk, off guard.
Yes, there is reason to laugh this off as another example of the unhinged, overprotective father losing his cool, but this is such a momentous occasion for the sport that it deserves to be taken seriously.
This is the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world, an event that will crown the first undisputed king of the four-belt era and anoint the newest “baddest man on the planet.”
If hearing the last name of his son’s opponent chanted is going to set John Fury off, are we sure nothing else will trigger him at the news conference? At the weigh-in? At any other happenstance crossing of the paths like Monday’s?
Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh has invested millions of dollars to make this fight.
How would he or anyone else supporting this spectacle feel if John Fury fails to control his emotions again and ignites a frenzy that leaves either main-event fighter injured?
Look at what happened before October’s novelty bout between rapper KSI and another Fury son, Tommy Fury. Following a diatribe by Logan Paul, John Fury raised from his seat, declared, “We’re warriors,” and turned over both news-conference tables, roaring and securing the attention that a narcissist craves – crotch-grabbing, included.
As he felt the blood stream down his face Monday, John Fury shouted, “We live for blood and guts.”
We know.
That attitude didn’t work out so well for John Fury in 2011, when he got into a brawl with an acquaintance and gouged out one of the man’s eyeballs, leaving the elder Fury with an 11-year prison sentence that was mercifully cut short in 2015, allowing him to see Tyson Fury’s heavyweight-title upset of long-reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko.
On Monday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters,” veteran trainer Teddy Atlas said boxing is increasingly taking on “a tiny bit of WWE,” as he referenced the heated back-and-forths between the Haney family and Ryan Garcia in April, and the Canelo Alvarez-Oscar De La Hoya bitter exchange earlier this month.
When fellow analyst Paulie Malignaggi referenced a line from the mafia film, “Goodfellas,” Atlas cracked, “The thing I’m scared about with the Furys is they might go to the next scene,” repeating a line from a character who had to bury a body: “What do you think? This is the first hole I’ve ever dug? I don’t think so.”
John Fury clearly senses there’s a comedic effect to his involvement in these affairs, but the drawing of blood and the physical violence should draw some discipline.
Perhaps he’d sensed he’s indeed crossed a line, issuing what he described as “sincere apologies to everyone involved,” and then adding a damaging addendum: “It’s just the way we are.”
Tyson Fury missed the brouhaha while conducting interviews in another room.
“I’m not here for all that,” Tyson Fury said. “I’m here to get the job done and go home and rest.”
It’s best that his father head back there now.
Read the full article here
