By Edward Chaykovsky
Former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has given the highest praise to current beltholder Tyson Fury.
Fury was named after the fearsome Brooklyn heavyweight and 'Iron Mike' is honored to have the current king of the heavyweight division carrying his name. Fury shocked the sport last November with a twelve round unanimous decision over Wladimir Klitschko to capture the WBO/IBF/WBA/IBO world heavyweight titles in Dusseldorf, Germany. It was Klitschko's first loss in over a decade.
"I'm just happy he was the champ," Tyson said to The Sun. "You can say what you want about Tyson Fury, make fun of him, but there's one guy in the US named Michael Gerard Tyson who's so proud he has my name. We're all laughing at him, laughing about him, but I'm on an ego trip. I'm sky high. The heavyweight champion of the world got my name.
Tyson ruled the heavyweight division with iron fists and scored deadly knockouts. He feels Fury is the best heavyweight to come along since that time period. Tyson was also a magnet for controversy, as is Fury. The two fighters have both come under fire for making controversial comments.
"He is the best heavyweight champion of the world since myself. He is the man, I don't care what anybody says. I know this is going to sound ignorant, he can say what he wants to say. You know who are going to look up to him? The people who never thought they had a chance in their life," Tyson said.
Fury and Klitschko are scheduled to have a rematch in the comings months. Following his stunning defeat, Klitschko exercised his right to an immediate rematch clause, which cost Fury the IBF belt after he was unable to make a mandatory title defense against Czar Glazkov of Ukraine.