As it was, Fury barely won the fight by a very, very close 12 round unanimous decision.
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The 39-year-old Ukrainian suffered his fourth career loss and first in 11 years with 27-year-old Fury outpunching a tired-looking Klitschko over 12 rounds in front of a crowd of 50,000 at the Esprit Arena.
Fury’s advisor Asif Vali doubts a rematch will happen as he expects Klitschko to retire, but Hennessy is confident the Manchester fighter will triumph once again if the rematch clause, which he says he had no hesitation in agreeing to, is activated.
“You’re a great champion Wlad, thanks very much for having me”, said Fury, moments after his win was announced.
When his fighter was just an up-and-coming teenager Egan set out what Fury’s CV might look like and it included this prediction: “2016: Undisputed heavyweight champion of the world”. He also performed a rendition of Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing to the delight of his fans in attendance.
He added: “I’m grateful to him for giving me this chance and if I can be half the champion he is, I’ll be a happy man”.
“I saw in his eyes that he was going to lose this fight”.
“I know how good Wladimir is and Wladimir did not show how good he is”, said Vitali. “I didn’t put the punches in and could not find the right key to open up the fight”.
“He caught me with some good shots”.
Fury said on BBC 5 Live: “I always said what I’d do and I’ve delivered tonight”. I didn’t believe he would make it but I lacked in speed today.
Fury, who has an Irish traveler heritage and labels himself “The Gypsy King” on social media, had dominated the pre-fight buildup with his freaky antics.
But once the fight started, the fooling stopped and he thoroughly flummoxed his opponent with an unorthodox southpaw style. I want to be a great champion and I’d like to do it all again.
But first, Fury faces a likely rematch with Klitschko.
Only seven Britons had previously been world heavyweight champions: Bob Fitzimmons (1897-99), Michael Bentt (1993-94), Herbie Hide (1994-95 & 1997-99), Frank Bruno (1995-96), Henry Akinwande (1996-97), Lennox Lewis (1993-94, 1997-2001, 2001-2003) and David Haye (2009).
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Fury pelted the champion with verbal tirades before, during and immediately after the national anthems – then continued the insults as he dashed out of his corner, circling away from Klitschko’s powerful right hand and peppering him from the outside.
