Tyson Fury Looking to Enter the Weird and Wonderful World of WWE

The British lineal heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, is embarking on a short-term career in the world of WWE wrestling. Fury, who is currently out of boxing training as he recovers from a bruising victory over Sweden’s Otto Wallin, doesn’t seem to be capable of putting his feet up during his downtime as he seeks to dabble in the whacky world of WWE. It all started at SmackDown a couple of weeks ago, when Fury was spotted ringside and quickly became embroiled in a storyline involving himself and towering inferno, Braun Strowman.

Fury is on the line-up for WWE Crown Jewel

Just like Floyd Mayweather once had a one-off duel against Big Show at WrestleMania, Fury is seemingly keen on enhancing his exposure and appeal across the Atlantic by facing Strowman as part of WWE’s Crown Jewel show to be staged in Saudi Arabia at the end of the month. If you put the pair side by side, they almost look like brothers, so well-suited are they physically. In fact, Strowman dwarfs the “Gypsy King” in terms of weight and power, standing just one inch shorter at an almighty 380 lbs.

Although it’s somewhat ironic that Fury will grace the crowds in Saudi Arabia several weeks before fellow British boxer, Anthony Joshua, arrives in the Middle East for his rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr., Fury’s eyes are still firmly set on the boxing arena. Both ESPN and FOX are doing everything they can to give Fury airtime ahead of a February rematch with WBC heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder. Fury earnt the respect of the U.S. after the original bout, which saw the “Gypsy King” withstand plenty of punishment from Wilder and eventually finish the fight stronger, with many pundits believing Fury to have won the fight outright despite the drawn scorecards from the judges.

Fury looking to win over the American public before Wilder fight

Tyson Fury is currently the outright favourite among the leading boxing sportsbooks to prevail in his heavyweight rematch with Deontay Wilder, which would go some way towards unifying the heavyweight title belts. Fury’s boxing co-promoter, Frank Warren, has been gearing up for this rematch for some time but was flummoxed to hear of Fury’s upcoming appearance at WWE Crown Jewel. Warren admitted in a recent interview on talkSPORT that Fury didn’t discuss his intentions to enter the world of wrestling. Warren said that Fury was “supposed to be taking a rest and taking it easy” and that he’d be a “liar if [he] said [he] was pleased with it”.

Deontay Wilder has become something of a “people’s champion” in the U.S.Photo by LAFD, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Fury sustained two severe cuts in his points victory over Otto Wallin, which have forced him out of training camps thus far for the Wilder fight in early 2020. Warren added that he had “seen WWE fighters get cuts”, given the nature of contact sports. Therefore, it is a risky move by Fury to enter the WWE ring before arguably the biggest fight of his career thus far.

That’s not the only crazy news to come out of boxing right now…

The “Gypsy King” isn’t the only eyebrow-raiser in the world of boxing right now. Former world champion, Nigel Benn, has confirmed his intention to come out of retirement at age 55. It’s been 23 years since Benn last fought a professionally, but a bout against Sakio Bika has been pencilled in for 23^rd November in Birmingham. Bika is a 40-year-old Cameroonian-Australian who previously held the WBC super-middleweight title back in 2013-14. His last fight came in 2017, and he last fought for a championship title in August 2014 when Anthony Dirrell stole Bika’s WBC super-middleweight belt by unanimous decision in a championship rematch.

At his press conference announcing the bout, Benn said that his previous boxing nickname of the “Dark Destroyer” had been changed to Nigel “Benjamin Button” Benn, citing his 100% fitness. It has been confirmed that the fight with Bika will be licensed by the British and Irish Boxing Authority (BIBA) as opposed to the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC). A BIBA doctor is reported to have approved Benn to fight, admitting that his physiological age is “at least 15 years younger” than his actual age of 55. In some ways, it should be celebrated that Benn has managed to maintain his personal fitness and keep the fire burning in his daily training regime, as he desperately seeks “closure” from the sport.