Greater Manchester Police have confirmed that they were launching a hate crime investigation into Tyson Fury’s comments on homosexuality.
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Over 100,000 names have been added to a petition asking the BBC to remove Fury from its Sports Personality of the Year shortlist.
The boxer is also being investigated for a hate crime by British police for comments he made on a BBC program.
She said the force was taking the matter “very seriously” and would be attending the complainant’s address to speak to him in person before deciding whether to question Fury.
Lindsey Tucker, championships chairman at the IBF, told BBC Sport: “It’s true he’s been stripped of his IBF belt”.
Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye has laid down a challenge to Tyson Fury, claiming his style “would absolutely murder” that of the current WBA Super, IBF and WBO champion.
But he has lost the IBF strap after declining to face that organisation’s mandatory title challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov.
I first got involved in sport when I was around seven, clinging on to every word England’s footballers said as if were the law, at an age I also believed my parents when they told me Father Christmas was real.
Andy West, a news presenter, wrote on his Facebook page that he was “ashamed to work for the BBC” and accused the broadcaster of “hurting me and other gay people by celebrating someone who considers me no better than a paedophile”, following controversial remarks made by the boxer.
Scott Cuthbertson, of the Equality Network, called for Fury, the heavyweight champion of the world, to be taken off the shortlist for making homophobic comments.
She went on to say: “If you are in the privileged position of being a sporting hero, then use your voice for good, not to damn a minority of the population”.
His uncle and trainer Peter Fury appeared on the Victoria Derbyshire show amid controversy over his nomination for Sports Personality of the Year, and he said his nephew should remain on the shortlist.
“One of them is homosexuality being legal in countries, one of them is abortion and the other is paedophilia”.
So what exactly has Fury said to raise so much furore among members of the public?
In the aftermath of his win in Dusseldorf, Fury had said: “I’m not sexist”.
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At the same time, he posted comments explaining why he supports efforts to stop Tyson scooping the award, hitting out at the BBC in the process. My belief is he shouldn’t be allowed to stand for Sports Personality of the Year because of what he said.
