Heavyweight champ Tyson Fury has been stripped of his International Boxing Federation (IBF) crown less than two weeks after beating Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko to win four of the boxing world’s five heavyweight titles.
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The IBF championships chairman Lindsey Tucker said: “It’s true he’s been stripped of his IBF belt”.
Fury was obligated to agree to a fight with the IBF’s mandatory challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov, but instead has opted to fight Klitschko in a rematch.
Fury yesterday refused to back down on his outspoken remarks about homosexuality and abortion, which he made in the build-up to his fight against Wladimir Klitschko last month.
A date and venue have yet to be confirmed.
Fury however still retains the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) versions of the heavyweight title.
BBC director general Tony Hall is to be questioned over the corporation’s decision not to remove controversial boxer Tyson Fury from the Sports Personality of the Year (Spoty) shortlist following his homophobic and sexist remarks which have since resulted in police launching a hate crime investigation.
Clive Myrie, speaking on BBC News, said of the new heavyweight champion: ‘You can not be a dickhead and win Sports Personality of the Year’. Whoever is the best stand-up fighter in the world, I want to fight him because I believe I’m that man. I don’t care if he wants to kick, whatever he wants to do.
In a recent interview with the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Fury, who is a born-again Christian, said that three things needed to be accomplished “before the devil comes home”.
“As someone who works in the LGBTI human rights sector I’ve seen first-hand the barriers to sport for LGBTI people”.
“Andy is in a hard position because he feels like he may be faced with choosing between his career and his personal beliefs”, he added.
In defending his comments on BBC’s Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show on 7 December, Fury said: “I love my women and what I said goes for my wife alone. They try to say that I hate people and that my god teaches hate”.
But Peter Fury did admit there should be an apology from Tyson for airing his views in public, as he said: “He gives his opinions”.
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“Maybe, going back to scripture, we could think about the idea of discipleship and mentorship, whether that’s something he’s open to our not, I don’t know”.
