by David P. Greisman
Tyson Fury said he and those closest to him have long known he would become the heavyweight champion someday. That day has come with Fury’s decision win over Wladimir Klitschko. Yet just because they knew it would come doesn’t mean that he had a smooth road there.
“It’s not come easy — 25 fights now, three world title eliminators, so I earned my right to be here tonight,” Fury said afterward. “I wasn’t given anything for free. I had to wait in line and earn the right to fight tonight. Just all the hard work has been rewarded with these belts and to go down with the legends as calling myself the heavyweight champion of the world. This has been the icing moment on the cake.”
He believes this was his destiny, part of God’s plan for him.
“No matter what I’ve done in life, the outcome was always going to be the same. I was always going to be the heavyweight champion. From the first moment I laced on a pair of boxing gloves … there wasn’t one person in my family who didn’t believe I was going to be the heavyweight champion of the world after one amateur fight. That’s gospel truth,” he said.
“We all believed it. Ultimately we was always on our way here. From the beginning I aimed for the stars, and anything less was a failure. Tonight I hit a shooting star. I became the heavyweight champion of the world. “
Though he was a challenger going up against a longtime champion, and though he’d never faced anyone near Klitschko’s level before, Fury doesn’t consider his win to be an upset.
“A big upset would be somebody who never had a chance,” he said. “Tyson Fury was always going to be the heavyweight champion of the world.”
Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
