Tyson Fury can surprise us all and produce one of THE great British sporting achievements
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It is a shame big-time boxing has, essentially, become a plaything of rich Saudi Arabians, otherwise the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury would be getting the feverish build-up it deserves. By all accounts, there are not many people in the vast city of Riyadh who are interested in the contest and that has a trickle-down effect.
Television coverage of fight week has hardly got the juices flowing, which is a shame, because this is a landmark event. Or, at least, should be. We are talking about a second instalment of one of boxing’s finest-ever pound-for-pound fighters against a winner of multiple world heavyweight championships. The WBO, WBA and WBC belts are on the line and although Daniel Dubois holds the IBF title (Usyk had to give it up when Fury activated the rematch clause), the winner will, to all intents and purposes, be the undisputed world heavyweight champion.
There was a time when that was the most prestigious title in sport. Some of us think it still should be. It is painful to think that it is probable more people were interested in that Jake Paul-Mike Tyson farce than will be interested in Usyk-Fury 2. Maybe it does not help that Fury divides opinion. There are plenty of reasons why his popularity is not at the level you might expect when talking about an elite British sportsman. He has expressed some fairly repugnant views on a variety of topics and was found guilty of a doping offence that earned him a two-year ban.
