Tyson Fury took a break from boxing and forayed into wrestling and WWE late last year as he further built his profile in the United States, and abroad.
Fury (29-0-1, 20 KOs) next fights Deontay Wilder (42-0-1, 41 KOs) in a rematch Feb. 22 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Fox and ESPN pay per view, and he believes that although Wilder is tied to Fox, the network preferred to highlight him instead for their partnership with WWE because he’s the better entertainer.
“Wrestling is for people with charisma and entertaining powers,” said Fury. “If WWE wanted him, if he was good enough to be a wrestler, they would’ve chosen him. But they chose me. And he’s even with Fox. But they didn’t want him because he sucks. He can’t talk. We already heard him. He’s boring. We wish he would just get to the point [when he speaks] so I can go and have a cup of tea. He’s not entertaining enough. He doesn’t have charisma to be a WWE superstar. That’s the truth.”
Wilder talked his fair share of trash as well, saying he won’t be satisfied with a win in February unless he knocks Fury out of the ring first, only to then deliver a flying elbow and leg kick immediately after.
“When I knockout Deontay Wilder, I want to go to Wrestlemania in April. I want Brock Lesnar. I’d knock him out, 100 percent,” said Fury.
Fury, who was recovering from nasty cuts that required 47 stitches over his right eye in September after facing Otto Wallin, was victorious in his WWE debut last October in Saudi Arabia in a one-on-one wrestling match with Braun Strowman.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk.akopyan@gmail.com.