Petition supporting Tyson Fury!

Absolutely. But look what Ali had to go through to get there. He had to give up the crown and retire for three years while he went around getting support for his cause and fighting the charges against him.

If Fury wants to do that, he would be if nothing else courageous; as he would have one heck of a battle.

 

You are entitled to your opinion. But you are being naive if you think you can gain such a position like Fury (THE World Heavyweight Champion) and not have huge responsibilities. In this era of Neoliberal Capitalism you (Fury) as a leader, need to put a positive spin on your 'brand'.

He has had a terrible week, and needs to up his game. But I also understand he still has support, so all is not lost.

 

He doesn't have any responsibilities - he plies his trade and earns his living; it's much ado about nothing. He'll fight Wlad next year and bank his millions regardless of what a bunch of hacks in the media think of him.

As I said before, the censors are out in force because they revile any eccentricity; it's a new Puritanism. It's a feature in our modern media that exists beyond Fury; but what IS annoying iin this case is that these journalists (even sports journalists) in the midst of their hand-wringing have completely *****d what should be a massively celebrated sporting achievement.

 

I agree he's being singled out by the media at the moment, but that's because it's all happening right now, all the other people mentioned have been slated by the media AT THE TIME of their indiscretions. The difference here is that fury is not apologising, and I'm not saying he should apologise at all, he can say what he likes, but this would all end if he apologised like the others did.

Fury shouldn't apologise for his beliefs, but people can't compare the bashing he's getting to other people, because they rightly or wrongly bowed down to media pressure or their own conscience to issue an apology.

If fury keeps on adding fuel to the fire then it will just continue, him and his fans just need to accept that and realise other people have opposing views and either carry on arguing with each other or agree to disagree and shut up about it.

 

That is the other problem, his achievement has seemingly been forgotten, because of his behaviour. He has so much potential, with his charisma, but that will go to waste unless he gets his act together.

But as you rightly suggest Fury/WladII will do very well and make him very rich.

 

Well, Ali's battle was less about his controversial views per se and more about the legal process that occurred when he refused to bow to actual authority of the US government.
Dodging conscription aint easy.

But Fury's not involved in anything actual. Fury has simply aired some apparently controversial religious views. This is akin to what Ali was doing before the draft trouble, and for several years after. It was part of what made Ali different and interesting, apparently.

I really don't think Ali was asked to apologize or was bombarded with a petition every time he said something controversial, potentially offensive or just plain biogoted.

 

Ali did not have to deal with the Internet or every one of his musings been known by all within minutes. One thing they may have in common though is a legal fight, if it is decided to charge Fury for his comments, that could make things very interesting...

 

I kind of agree with this. And, in time, the unapologetic stance might actually gain Fury more widespread respect.

On the other hand, there's certain aspects of the coverage and anti-Fury campaign which have clearly misreprsented what he said.

1. He never said "Hom***uals = Pedophiles".
2. He did not say he hated gays either.

But the headlines are pretty much pushing both those claims, ever since Holt's original article.

 

Muhammad Ali said these things live on prime time television, in front of millions, on the Michael Parkinson show etc.
In the days of 3 TV channels !

Surely Fury has said absolutely nothing to be charged with any sort of "hate speech crime", even in the current regime where freedoms have been eroded.

 

Is Fury adding fuel to the fire? Isn't it the press that keeps hounding him?

 

I do not think anything will come of it.

Ali as you suggest said some outrageous things, they were 'of their time' and thus were not judged like it is 2015. If Ali said the same things today as a fighter, he would be more controversial than ever.

I think that is part of the problem, it is 2015, not the 1970s, 80s or 90s anymore. Things have changed.

 

The problem is the media, not Fury; even sports journalists haven't bothered to journalise his achievement, other than tersely written tweets in the order of the fight was 'sh!t'.

Metroland media want their sportsman to be metroland pinups, and in our case that's to the detriment of the sport we follow - vis-a-vis Fury not getting any praise. Where I do think he's done himself no favours though is in dismissing other sportsman, Murray / Hamilton etc.

 

But that is today's society, you need smart presentation. The annoying thing is Fury can do it, he is as smart and more witty than a Klitschko (at least in English), he just needs to make the adjustments that come with his now very high position.

I tear my hair out with what he says sometimes. For instance; yes Jessica Ennis (I and Tyson think) is very attractive but she is also a phenomenal athlete. And when she is up for an award for her athleticism, you make comments about that, not her looks. It is not that hard; Fury can and should do it.