World Boxing News caught up with World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman on Sunday to find out his thoughts of the stories regarding Tyson Fury.
Fury, 31, is under scrutiny from sections of the UK media, who apparently will stop at nothing to dig up dirt on the two-time heavyweight champion.
Going back to 2015, reports of an allegedly promised payment to a wild boar farmer over a failed drug test have surfaced.
‘The Gypsy King’ was handed a two-year ban for the failure, anyway, leading to many scratching their heads over the current storm.
One of those is Sulaiman, who joins WBN in wondering how the British Board of Boxing Control or the UK Anti-Doping Agency could take it seriously.
The farmer in question has already admitted agreeing to lie to the BBBofC, if he side is true, leading to Sulaiman wondering how much reliability there is to the rest of the 70-year-old’s interview.
WBC President on Tyson Fury
“I have little knowledge of the allegations,” Sulaiman exclusively admitted to World Boxing News from his home in Mexico. “But I wonder what credibility such person could have when he claims wrongdoing when it was him doing it!
“He has admitted to receiving the money to lie. In my eyes, he has zero credibility,” he added.
Asked whether Fury’s position as the WBC green and gold belt holder was in jeopardy, as suggested in the press, Sulaiman concluded: “Fury is our champion and we are proud of him overcoming his problems.
“Furthermore, he has tested negative in countless Clean Boxing Program tests. Therefore, he remains our champion.”
As things stand, Fury’s promoter Frank Warren has dismissed the accusations as being part of ‘silly season’. This is due to big-time boxing currently being under a cloud.
The ongoing coronavirus is likely to see most of the next month’s events canceled. Others could take place behind closed doors as the world gets to grips with a new way of life for 2020.
Contracted for a third fight versus Deontay Wilder again in July, that could now be pushed back until the last quarter of this year. If it happens at all.
Uncertainty in the world cannot be second-guessed at the moment. And with Fury having only two more fights on his Top Rank contract, who knows what will transpire in the immediate future.
Fury unaffected
According to Warren and Sulaiman, Fury will be unaffected by the latest development.
Since winning the top division crown for a second time, Fury has already been targeted online. Videos and suggestions of glove tampering have largely been suppressed in the mainstream.
But the underlying negativity against Fury is there for all to see. When he wins big, the animosity seems to be heightened.
It was evident against Wladimir Klitschko. Now it’s evident after Wilder. Fury must be wondering what he has to do.
Receiving nothing but adulation for his amazing achievement in losing ten stone. Plus surviving a devastating last-round knockdown against Wilder in the first fight, Fury then winning in such a dominant fashion has bred new dislike.
The glove theory has largely been shown to hold no benefit at all. Whilst it also happened in the December 2018 meeting Fury didn’t prevail in.
Whatever goes down from here on in, Fury has learned one thing. No matter how much he tries to change, it just won’t change some opinions.
Despite a clean slate from 2018 onwards after suffering mental health problems all his life, turning his situation around just doesn’t seem enough for some.
Success apparently is Fury’s enemy. He’s seemingly almost fully supported when he’s the underdog and fighting against the odds.
Dominate in the fashion he certainly did against Klitschko. And then again versus Wilder, and out come the knives.
