Tyson Fury stripped of title, being investigated for anti-gay hate crime
It has been less than two weeks since Tyson Fury took a plethora of heavyweight title belts away from Wladimir Klitschko, and the undefeated British bruiser has already been stripped of one of those titles.
The BBC reports that Fury has been forced to give up his IBF title because he has chosen to face Klitschko in a rematch rather than mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov. IBF championships chairman Lindsey Tucker confirmed the news.
“It’s true he’s been stripped of his IBF belt,” Tucker said. “Our challenger was Vyacheslav Glazkov, but instead Fury’s gone and signed a rematch clause with Wladimir Klitschko.”
In addition to losing one of his titles, Fury could also find himself in trouble with the law. Manchester Police told The Associated Press on Tuesday that they are investigating an alleged “hate crime” from Fury stemming from some anti-gay comments he made last month. Fury’s controversial rant came in response to a question about his belief that the armageddon is coming.
“It says there will be a time when men lay with men and women lay with women and that’s accepted and it’s only in 1967 when these things were OK: abortions, being homosexual in public,” he said, via the Daily Mail. “So from 1967 until now. There are only three things that need to be accomplished before the Devil comes home. One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is pedophilia. So who would have thought in the 50s and early 60s that those first two would be legalized. When I say pedophiles can be made legal, that sounds like crazy talk doesn’t it but back in the 50s and early 60s, for them first two to be made legal would have been looked on as a crazy man again.”
On Monday, Fury told the BBC that he does not hate anyone.
“Let’s not try and make me out to be some evil person and I hate gays, because I don’t hate anybody,” he said. “I can actually say I don’t hate anybody.”
The 27-year-old also made headlines last week when he said “a woman’s best place is in the kitchen.”
Fury has made the heavyweight division exciting again, but he is far from a role model. He brought us a hilarious moment after beating Klitschko when he sang Aerosmith to his wife (video here), but no one will ever accuse him of being politically correct.
H/T Deadspin
