Fury's return rouses heavyweight scene
The heavyweight division just got even more interesting.
Only a few minutes had passed after the news broke that Tyson Fury was free to box again, following his long-running dispute with Britain's anti-doping agency, when the man himself took to Twitter.
"Guess who's back?" Fury tweeted. Next to those words was a video of him grooving to tunes inside a car.
It was a novel way for someone to react to being found guilty of a doping offense. Then again, Fury is one
of a kind.
And that's what makes his imminent return to the ring — subject to him regaining his boxing license — all the more exciting.
The heavyweight scene has been revived since Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 to win the WBA, IBF, and WBO belts. The Klitschko brothers — Wladimir and Vitali — were regarded as boring, with their dual, decadelong dominance a turnoff.
Now, the division boasts a new breed of fighters, champions from three different continents in Britain's Anthony Joshua (WBA and IBF), American Deontay Wilder (WBC) and New Zealand's Joseph Parker (WBO).
Then there's Fury, back to stir things up even more.
The loudmouth Briton and his cousin Hughie accepted backdated two-year doping bans on Tuesday (Wednesday Manila time) after providing elevated levels of nandrolone in urine samples following fights in February 2015. Both boxers said they "never knowingly or deliberately committed any anti-doping rule violation" and were willing to come to a compromise agreement with UK Ant-Doping in what proved a convoluted, drawn-out case.
The bans were backdated to December 13, 2015, and expired at midnight on Tuesday (Wednesday Manila time).
Fury must get back his license, which was suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control last year over separate incidents of drug use and medical issues, but is now a major player among the heavyweights.
Soon after his "Guess who's back?" tweet, he called out Joshua by writing: "Where you at boy? I'm coming for you."
Joshua is likely to fight Parker or Wilder next, potentially in the summer of 2018, but — in Britain, at least — the box office fight would be Joshua vs Fury, which would be promoted as the national treasure taking on the bad boy. Both are unbeaten as professionals and have contrasting fighting styles.