Tyson Fury is not homophobic, according to his trainer who likens the new heavyweight world champion to boxing legend and motormouth Muhammad Ali.
Peter Fury, the fighter's uncle and trainer, has written a column for Britain's Telegraph newspaper as controversy continues to dog the fighter ahead of this weekend's BBC Sports Personality Awards where the boxer is up for personality of the year.
Tyson Fury has enraged some sectors of the community with a string of outrageous comments in the wake of beating Ukrainian veteran Wladimir Klitschko to become world champion.
"Tyson is a special character no matter what people say," Peter Fury wrote in his column.
"He is a genuinely nice guy. He does not stigmatise people. He is not homophobic. He is just saying what his personal beliefs are. If you are homophobic, that means you attack homosexuals.
"He is polite to everyone. He is misquoted so people can sell newspapers.
"Tyson also has a great personality, and if BBC Sports Personality of the Year was actually based on 'personality', he would win hands down.
"You have only got to look at heavyweight boxing and he is the king of speech. Look at Ali and what he did in 1964. He shook up the world. Tyson shook up the world and he can talk as well.. I see lot of resemblance between them. They did similar feats."
Peter Fury said his fighter was misunderstood.
"What people may not realise about Tyson is how he processes information. He is a listener. He has confidence and faith in what I want him to do. When I talk to him and philosophise about lots of things, he listens.
"We know each other inside out. He knows why I blink, what I am thinking. We can almost do telepathy when we train. We can look across the ring and know what is what. We are one unit, because he is my blood.
"He has not got any self-doubt. He is confident, happy and he will go about his job like a real professional. Take away all the bravado and he's a world-class athlete and was the most serious threat that Wladimir Klitschko had ever come across. We knew that."
Peter Fury said that "nothing is more important for all the Furys than family" and that bond had seen them through tough times and was a key to Tyson's ultimate success.
