Three years ago Tyson Fury predicted he would make history by becoming the number one heavyweight and in Germany last night he was true to his word.
Tyson Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko to claim the WBA, WBO and IBF titles and become Britain’s eighth world heavyweight champion, and as he said himself at an interview afterwards “the first Travelling man, ever in history to win the heavyweight championship of the world” at Dusseldorf’s ESPRIT Arena.
Born and raised in Manchester, England, Fury was born into a family of Irish Traveller heritage. His paternal grandfather was from Tuam, County Galway, which is also the birthplace of his father John Fury. His maternal grandmother is from County Tipperary and his mother was born in Belfast.
Having initially been denied the opportunity to fight for Ireland at the Olympic Games, he was permitted to represent both Great Britain and Ireland after tracing his family lineage to relatives in Belfast and has represented both Ireland and England and amateur level – he acknowledged his Irish fans in the post–fight celebrations.
“I am going to be the first Irish heavyweight champion of the world,” he said in November 2012 ahead of his fight against American Kevin Johnston and last night that came to pass as judges awarded Fury the win with scores of 115–112 twice and 116–111.
His family has a long history in boxing; his father competed in the 1980s as “Gypsy” John Fury, initially as a bare–knuckle fighter and unlicensed boxer, and then as a professional boxer. He is a cousin of Irish WBO Middleweight World Champion Andy Lee and heavyweight Hughie Fury. Hughie’s father, Peter Fury, is also Tyson’s trainer. He is also a distant relative of “self–styled King of the Gypsies” Bartley Gorman. His father named him “Tyson” after then–world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.