GREATEST’
TYSON FURY reckons he is as confident as Muhammad Ali and Floyd Mayweather Junior combined as he prepares to retake the heavyweight division by storm.
The 29-year-old makes his ring comeback against Macedonia’s Sefer Seferi in Manchester on Saturday – two-and-a-half years after his last fight.
He beat Wladimir Klitschko that night to become the heavyweight champion of the world and he is convinced he will soon regain that status.
Fury said: “I am the greatest heavyweight of all time, I’ve not got to be modest. I am the best ever – me, Tyson Fury, the Gypsy King, the one and only.
“When has there ever been somebody like me?
“There have been plenty of come-forward aggressors, there have been plenty of boxers off the back foot.
Showman
“But when has there ever been a 6ft 9in switch-hitter with the confidence of Muhammad Ali and Floyd Mayweather rolled into one?
“I’m unbeaten, I’m fast, I’m brash, I’m young, I’m good-looking, I’m tanned – I’ve even got white teeth.
“What more could I have? I’m a fighter, I’m a boxer, I’m a sportsman, I’m a showman, I am the greatest of my time.
“I’ve already beaten the lineal champion, I’ve already beaten the legendary champion Wladimir Klitschko and, guess what, I did it easily.
“So put me in the ring with these bums and I will tell you how to put them down – easy peasy, lemon squeezy.”
These “bums” are current world champions Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder, and Fury insists there is nothing playful or light-hearted about his plans for them.
He added: “I’m so serious I can’t sleep at night thinking about bums all the time.
“I’m thinking about putting my fist through the side of AJ’S jaw, I’m thinking about knocking Wilder spark out, all 15st of him.
“Putting him upside down on a heap in the floor.
“And if there are any cruiserweights out there, lightheavyweights or middleweights, who want to move up, I will give them a good hiding, too.
Exile
“Gennady Golovkin, Andre Ward, whoever… whoever think they are the dons, move up to heavyweight and I will sort them all out.”
Fury believes this is a golden era for heavyweight boxing.
He said: “You have the lineal champion, the real Mac, who has been in exile for nearly three years, just like Muhammad Ali was. Then you have the other guys who have done their thing in the meantime.
“But, once I come back, I am back and I will take over again, just like Muhammad Ali did.
“This is about smashing people, it isn’t about the business side of things and getting the money things right.
“I will give them a hiding for nothing. Don’t let TV stations or rival promoters get in the way, I will fight them for free.
“They’ll say it’s about money – splits, percentages, fees – but it’s not.
“It’s about two men standing in a ring and punching the s**t out of each other – and that’s just what I’ll do to those boys.”