By Sean Crose
Perhaps newly crowned heavyweight kingpin Tyson Fury believes it when fighters who fail drug tests claim to have no idea how it could have happened. For Fury, safely in England after a huge fight weekend on the continent, claimed that he was afraid he’d be drugged after besting Waldimir Klitschko on Saturday.
“After the fight,” claimed Fury, “I had it from good sources not to touch anything in the changing room because they might try to drug me.”
“People were trying to pass me all sorts of things,” he stated, “but unless it came from my own baggage, I wasn’t having it, there was no chance of me getting drugged.”
Even after soundly defeating the Ukranian champ, Fury still wasn’t through bashing Team Klitschko. “We know the cheats, these people are extremely good at cheating,” he said. According to Fury, a lot of dirty stuff was going on before Saturday’s bout.
“They tried it with the gloves first,” he stated, “and still gave me the wrong gloves in the end. Then they put six-inch thick memory firm all over the ring. Then he had his bandages on and his wraps on before we came into the changing room and he had to take them off.”
The question now is whether Fury believes what he’s saying or if he’s once again trying to get inside Klitschko’s head. A rematch between the two men is in order, so the second possibility should be taken seriously. Then again, this is Fury, an over the top character if ever there was one.
With that in mind, however, it’s worth realizing that boxing is a notoriously shady sport at times and that shenanigans have long played a part in its illustrious history. What Fury says, especially regarding the threats to his drink being spiked, certainly sounds off the wall. Boxing, however, can be an off the wall sport and that’s something worth keeping in mind.
While many fight fans are embracing the fact that the less than exciting Klitschko has finally been dethroned, it’s worth noting that the public is about to get a whole lot of sound bites out of the new champion, Fury. And no, he’s not going away any time soon. As he himself has stated:
“If people don’t like it change the channel.”
It’s doubtful that sort of thing is going to happen now that the heavyweight division is back in the spotlight again. Aside from Klitschko, Fury will also have to keep an eye out for Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, Alexander Povetkin and many other talented individuals who are just chomping at the bit to get a piece of the big man.