Like him or lump him, Tyson Fury is the World heavyweight champion.
The 6-foot-7 monster from Manchester currently holds just the WBA and WBO belts, but that's not important; he beat the recognised world champion, and so now he is the recognised world champion.
Such is the farcical nature of boxing's alphabet organisation bullshit, at least three other fighters can claim to hold a version of the heavyweight title. But until he's beaten, Fury is the man at maximum weight.
The 27-year-old was stripped of the IBF belt when he refused a mandatory defence against Vyacheslav Glazkov, as 11-year champion Wladimir Klitschko exercised his contractual entitlement to a rematch with the former Irish champion.
In a fight for the relinquished IBF strap, Glazkov then lost to unheralded 'contender' Charles Martin in unfortunate circumstances, with a injury bringing to a premature end to what was already a farcical contest. And so next weekend Anthony Joshua, whose ropey hallmark victory arrived over a domestic opponent, will take on Martin, who nobody outside of St. Louis had ever heard of until he fought Glazkov, and the winner (Joshua) will be heralded as a heavyweight world champion. But everyone will know he's not the champion.
The whole thing is a ramshackle shit-show. This becomes even more apparent when Tyson Fury - in one of his profanity laced rants, no less - speaks more sense than most about the scarcely believable abundance of boxing belts.
Though admitting he'd be interested in fighting the winner of next Saturday's IBF contest, Fury has made it clear that he couldn't give a baker's you-know-what about the belt in question.
I don’t even want that title. That is a title they took off me,
Fury said.
It is a piece of shit, it doesn’t mean anything. It is a paper title. Martin or Joshua would never box for a world title like I did with Klitschko. I beat the man who couldn’t be beaten.
It is what it is. It's worthless. Even if I did win it again I'd throw it on the floor and piss on it.
Crass imagery aside, there aren't many people in boxing who'd argue with the big man if he did.
H/T: BoxingScene
