Observations of the Klitschko-Fury London Press Conference

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By Scoop Malinowski
Tyson Fury was at his all time craziest today at the London press conference to announce his October 24 challenge of World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko. The mouthy but charismatic giant made a smashing entrance attired in a Batman costume, sort of reminiscent of ATP tennis world number one Novak Djokovic entering a stadium court with a funny wig on.

Fury is a creative soul and a fresh free spirit, capable of anything, any spontaneous behavior at any moment – a stark contrast to the polite, sophisticated, proper, and socially perfect champion. Of course these two contrasting personalities mix like gasoline and fire, and today’s confrontation, as expected, resulted in another memorable explosion.

Klitschko was speaking his typical verbal delivery when suddenly Fury became infuriated at being called a clown and rose up to his feet, removed his jacket and cuff links, screaming and yelling at Klitschko, who did not stop his speech or look over at the colossal commotion just a couple of meters to his left on the dais.

Fury threatened that he wanted to fight right then and there, and that he would dispose of the champion in October but later in a TV interview, Fury sounded more realistic in stating that he would either win or lose by KO, showing a slightly different level of confidence later on in the day. Klitschko later declared to a TV interview that Fury is a “psychopath” in need of therapy and that the fight will be the appointment when Klitschko will work to fix and resolve Fury’s mental problems. Klitschko also firmly stated that his fists would speak a lot louder than his words.
The press conference was sensational with no shortage of tension, grudge and contrasting energies which all will surely translate into a historic and dramatic event on October 24 in Dusseldorf, televised in the United States by HBO. Fury’s conduct today was eerily reminiscent of the out of control young Cassius Clay in the days leading up to his first world title challenge of Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, when Clay appeared to be borderline insane at the weigh-in, taunting and yelling at Liston. The problem for Fury though is that Klitschko is a far different animal than Liston was, far more dominant and formidable, bigger, stronger, and a lot more capable of showing young Fury how to represent the sport of boxing with honor, class and nobility.
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