Colorful Heavyweight Is New Mr. Las Vegas; Fury Prepares For Saturday Bout
The Manchester, England-born Fury (29-0-1 , 20 KOs) is fully embracing his residency stateside in Sin City. For the foreseeable future when he’s fighting, he will be fighting in Las Vegas. When LVSportsBiz.Com sat down to talk with Top Rank Boxing President, Bob Arum, the promoter acknowledged the value of Fury’s contributions leading up to fight night.
“This isn’t just a heavyweight fight. It’s a heavyweight fight with one of the great entertainers in the sport of boxing. He’s a guy who has so much charisma and such attraction for fans,” the 87-year-old Arum said.
Back on June 15, Fury staged a full on tribute to America in the style of an Independence Day celebration. He orchestrated a ring walk covered head to toe with throwback Rocky IV Apollo Creed style trunks, top hat, and a sequined robe. He even entered the ropes to the tune of James Brown’s Living in America, which also played in the Rocky movie.
The Gypsy King has been on a mission to re-brand himself since getting himself to the other side of a well-chronicled battle with depression and mental health challenges. It was a spiral that included cocaine and alcohol binges which eventually got him sidelined from boxing in 2017 after having tested positive for banned substances. The 30-year-old subsequently spent 924 days away from the sport getting sober, and desperately needed therapy on his way back to wellness. Scheduled for release in November, Fury’s autobiography titled, Behind the Mask, is expected to provide even more insight into that period of his life.
Las Vegas loves a comeback story. And Tyson Fury has, so far, beat the odds and is playing with house money — $100 million to be exact, which is the deal he recently signed with ESPN and his promoter Top Rank. Arum told LVSportsBiz.com he has zero concerns about Fury being distracted in Las Vegas. “When you’re talking about Tyson Fury, you’re talking about Superman. The one thing I would never worry about with Tyson Fury as his promoter is him being distracted. He will never be distracted.”
There have been plenty of opportunities for Fury to be distracted with the schedule he has kept since arriving in Las Vegas. With his fight with Wallin taking place over the Mexican Independence Day weekend, he made it a point to reach out to Mexican fans and embrace their culture.
Fury, who has been studying Spanish, broke out a gold Mexican wrestling Lucha Libre mask for his open workout, and another crimson red Lucha mask for Friday’s weigh-in . Sorry, Lebron, Tyson Fury is in on #TacoTuesday as well. He spent some time in the kitchen taste testing at Tacos El Gordo on East Charleston Avenue this week.
Tyson Fury is putting his bid in to become the new Mr. Las Vegas. At least in the honorary sense. “This was the place for Elvis Presley. It was the place for Mohammed Ali. It’s the place for Lady Gaga. [Tyson] is a big entertainer that people love. He’s put his flag down in the city. This is his place,” Arum said.
*
Follow LVSportsBiz.com on Twitter and Instagram. Like LVSportsBiz.com on Facebook.
