From the U.K. It’s always interesting to gauge the casuals hype before a big fight. The hype leading up to the fight was good but nothing unheard of. However a week later and everyone in the U.K is still talking about Tyson Fury (and Wilders excuses). Normally after a big fight they go back to talking about football (soccer) but the U.K. still has Tyson Fury fever. Hope he keeps his head straight as he is really transcending the sport over here. Anyone else feeling the reaction to Fury very positive? It’s surprising as it wasn’t even on Sky who can normally hype a fight really well. I think it’s his unique skills, personality, battle with mental health issues. We’re all rooting for him.
The general consenus on Fury is much more positive that it ever was on Lennox. I have Lennox being a far more exciting fighter, especially in his early days. Fury obviously the bigger personality outside the ring, but I don't think that's enough of a factor to explain the difference in popularity.
How do you explain the love for frank bruno over here then, no-one's been as popular as him over here as far as boxing goes. Its about personality and the story behind the person . Fury's never been popular over here anyway, he received very little credit for the wlad win compared to joshua who was lauded by everyone, even tho fury's win over wlad was better...
I don't think that's entirely true. A lot of the crowd in Vegas were Brits who travelled all the way there to see Fury. Fury got a massive applause coming home at Manchester Airport. I think Fury is plenty popular here. Just not as popular as Joshua
Fury is a lot more likable than Lewis. Lewis was never well liked by the Brits, he had more American Canadian fans in comparison to the British who were more into Frank Bruno
That's because though we think of Lewis as 'British' he wasn't really British. True, he was born here and spent his first twelve years here. But then he went to Canada. He took up boxing in Canada. He boxed in the Olympics for Canada. He won the gold for Canada. The only reason he came home to Britain was because the infrastructure for Lewis to go professional just wasn't there in Canada at that time. If it were, he'd have stayed in Canada.
No, 'casuals' are rooting for him because they're now told to by the mass media promotional machine, as opposed to the past where they weren't, and of course the period where they were actually warded away. Fury was sanitised and pushed all over the place, the book, the single etc., the mental health activism, because now he's lucrative, now he's 'safe'. It all just proves what power the media companies have over the mindless peasantry, how easy it is to shape them. It's an absolute fact that at the time of Fury dethroning the metrosexual king of the HW division, the British casuals were more interested in worshipping their idol AJ, as directed by the establishment/media. And when Fury returned to Britain, he received very little attention relative to other athletes and relative to the magnitude of the victory. At that point he'd really made no political comments, and also hadn't been dealing drugs or knocking up strippers like the British idol. So the idea it was 'his own doing' is false. It was pointed out a few days ago that Fury had only a handful of people at the airport returning from the Wlad victory as opposed to needing a police escort after returning from the Wilder victory. That contrast clearly shows how clearly the masses are controlled by media powers.
People forget the real reason Fury was out for 2 years, he was banned for steroids. Kind of takes the shine off historically! https://eu.usatoday.com/story/sport...ury-to-fight-again-after-doping-ban/33763727/ https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...n-ukad-doping-violation-hearing-a8105906.html
It’s good in the UK we simultaneously have 2 heavyweights in AJ and Fury who have transcended the sport. Different personalities but both good for the sport. I also feel the style match up between them is excellent and can produce a Larry Holmes vs Ken Norton type fight or Ali vs Norton trilogy.
Fury not getting credit for the Wlad win was his own fault. The homophobic rant completely side lined his win as the British press got their daggers out. Fury is much more media savvy now. He's reinvented himself, he used to be way too unpredictable to ever be on live TV, now he's cleaned up his language, promotes the mental health angle which has been a hot topic for a while now and simply been less confrontational and more self effacing in a tongue in cheek way. Plus he's kept some of his more controversial opinions to himself, he was too honest before, now he knows when to shut the hell up for his benefit. That's allowed the mainstream media to frame him a more likable way which has seen his popularity gradually grow. So yes I agree it's all about personality, which he has in spades. Foreman did a similar thing to reinvent himself and turned from the mean bruiser to the jovial, self effacing preacher and became a huge personality and star.
Fury has leap frogged joshua IMO. It's because he has star quality, whereas AJ is just a good looking, media trained robot with no charisma.
Or people like me missed it? I thought it was cocaine. So there were two different issues, coke & roids?